And I honestly didn't see anything. So they were coming the other way. You're saying I panicked and I left the scene. Saturday, May 13th, 2023, St. Petersburg, Florida. Police received a call reporting a serious accident at the intersection of 22nd Avenue South and 45th Street South. According to the caller, there was a severely injured victim at the scene. Officers, EMS, and fire rescue units would be dispatched immediately because time became critical. I'm Tyler and this is your daily dose of crime. West. You're going west on 22nd. Yeah. Okay. What do you know what this vehicle looked like? I didn't really see the vehicle. I just saw him on the ground. Like I saw the car and him on the ground. So, I was more focused on him. I didn't see the vehicle. Okay. [Music] Come on. I just saw the car away and he was still there. And then um when I realized that Yeah. Okay. Uh and this is your van, correct? Yeah. Well, I wasn't involved. I just Was it just you in the car? It was. Okay. Just trying to stop traffic. You mind just hanging out for me for a while? Well, hello wild cuz I have um a baby at home. I'm coming down 22nd Avenue heading west. West. Okay. I'm stopped here and I'm in the left hand inside lane with my blanket on to turn on 45th Street. This the car's passing me. The the motorcycle is coming up. The SUV is turning left. He's turning left. Which way was the SUV going? The SUV was heading east. East. Okay. He was turn he turned right in front of this motorcycle and that lady was behind him and I could I I could I could see the motorcycle coming up and he had no time to stop because the SUV pulled right in front of him. Uhhuh. So it was instant. Describe this SUV to me. It's a um if if I could describe if I could tell you what kind of SUV it would be like um not it's a GMC. A GMC? Yeah, it would be a GMC and not not the long bed because um all of my sons have SUVs. Was it a Was it a truck or an SUV? It's a SUV, sir. It's an SUV. It's not a truck. It's a SUV. Okay. Um I'm looking at it and um and as a man went flying up in the air, the dude slowed down. Whoever was driving, they slowed down about where that police car up there. Yeah. Where that police car, they slowed down. They looked at it and they kept going. Okay. It's not what I guess. I'm looking at the I said I'm I'm I'm I couldn't go no further because I'm in a state of shock. Did you see the driver of the of the the white SUV at all? No, I could not see it because I could You just heard the impact with the impact. Okay. I could not I could I couldn't identify the person and how many people in the car I could get, but I know it was a white it was a white um SUV. Okay. Paramedics found the victim lying on the pavement and worked quickly to stabilize him. Meanwhile, officers began taking witness statements. The driver responsible for the crash had fled the scene, and authorities needed to do everything they could to track them down. According to witnesses, an SUV turned eastbound, cutting off a motorcycle and failing to yield the right of way. The collision was violent, and the SUV driver sped off the moment they could. The victim had taken a brutal hit. Officers were worried they didn't know if they'd be able to find the person responsible. Hi, Miss. Hi. How are you? Good. How are you? Not too good, huh? All right. I'm uh I'm Officer Lahan. All right. I'm one of the traffic homicide investigators here with the city. Um so I'm going to be the one who's doing this investigation. I appreciate you hanging out and kind of waiting to talk to me for a little while. I know you've probably been waiting probably about an hour, right? My daughter's sick at morning plant. Okay. I'd like to get up. All right. So from what you can remember, um while it's still kind of fresh in your head, what do you what do you remember happening? Where were you? I was traffic coming behind me. People getting over. People getting over into the right lane because I got because I'm Right. Cuz you're stopped cuz you're stopped while waiting to make the left, right? People heading heading east. Mhm. Including a white SUV. A white SUV and in in the inside lane turning south on 40. the motorcycle driving at a good Wait, I don't mean to cut you off, but you said the white SUV was in the middle lane going east and they were turning turning turning north. North. Okay. North, not top. I'm I'm I'm sorry. No, you're okay. Okay. I just want to make sure I get it right. North. Going north. You can hear the motorcycle because it's riving up. You know, it's he's going I ride bikes. You going at a good rate of speed, right? Okay. Okay. And and and Tara, the the the person behind is behind him. Okay. But as was she here? I think there was another person here. She's she's a PA. Okay. And um she had to go to her baby here in court. Gotcha. Anyway, um as I as I hear the motorcycle and I see the truck the SU turning out, he's turning, but the motorcycle is going in at a good rate of speed. Okay. as he as he turn as as the as the the person is turning. Uhhuh. The it ain't like it ain't like the the truck hit him head on. The truck hit him from the passenger door. No, he hit the truck from the passenger door. Okay. Cuz he's driving fast. Okay. Okay. He's He's driving at a good rate of speed. the there's nothing that the SUV could do at that point to stop. Okay? Because he's driving. When I call this one, I say the unfortunate accident. The unfortunate part was because he didn't stop, right? That's that's Yeah, definitely. I I don't know how people can do that. Yes. Um, see, he he's he's more than halfway turned in. Mhm. You understand? Okay. He's more than halfway turned in. It ain't like he tried to hit the man. He's more than happy to turn in but the motorcycle going accept. So going so fast, right? Whoa. And when when he went to him, the guy goes so go so far so far in the air and he comes almost walking down, you know, and and bam. Okay. And and and that's exactly what happened. While collecting details, one witness said the motorcycle was going fast, which had made the crash even more severe. The SUV driver didn't appear to hit the biker on purpose and may not have even seen him before turning. But what raised suspicion was how quickly they took off after the crash. The question was, how would police find someone with no clear ID or vehicle information? I'm holling. I'm hollering before before he get hit because the dude is already the dude or the girl. I can't say it was a girl or dude. Okay. I can't say who was driving that car. Okay. Because it it because that person was turning and I can hear him riving up cuz he's trying to get around me. He's trying to get Okay. Um the car that was making a left turn, you said it was a white SUV. It It was a It looked like it's a GMC. I Are you Are you Do you think it's a GMC because of the lettering on the front or do you are you just saying based on what like what the grill and everything look like? Because of the grill actually. Okay. Because you know all my sons have SUVs, you know. In fact, most of my family have SUVs and that's what it look like. But to be 100% sir, I I couldn't I couldn't bet my life. You don't know 100%. I can't be 100. That's what it look like. Do you remember any other like important details about the car? Like maybe window tints, dark window tints, light window tint. It look like it has some window tint. I got it that it had some darker windshield. Not on the windshield or on the other windows. Look like a It looked like it had, you know, like a piece of wind darkness over the top, but like the strip on the top, but not the entire windshield, but it looked like it had on the on the side, you know, as it was turning, right? And because when that when that dude collided with the the the part of the the the truck that's going to be messed up is where that mirror fell off, right? That's where he hid him because the front part of the truck was already at, you know, the the hood part, right? That was already where he collided. He collided right there. Hello. How you doing? All right. Sorry to keep you waiting. It's okay. It's good as can be expected. I'm pretty traumatized. I just like to have everything on one notepad. Sure. Yeah. Since I'm doing the Yeah. It was the minivan that I was right behind him. Um he wasn't driving recklessly or anything. We were going, you know, 30 35. Okay. And the car just turned right in front of him. I I just saw like a flash. I think it was white, but I just saw the flash and heard the coll like a a subtle collision. Uhhuh. And um kind of was like, "Oh, I think I'll go around." And then I saw the guy on the ground, so I stopped and I saw the vehicle stopped like probably around the 21st South area like um they pulled off and I I thought it was white. I couldn't say it was an SUV or not. that distance. It's hard to say, but um then I saw them leaving and I thought I should follow them, but then I thought if I moved, I was worried other people might hit the guy, so I like perpendicular. Okay. Yeah, that's that's fine. I wouldn't expect you to you never know who you're following these days either. So, yeah. And I kind of was I don't know the the rate of speed and the way they turned. It's like they cut the corner almost. So, my thought was kind of like, oh, they're probably a stolen car or something. Okay. I don't know. Yeah. All right. So, I'm not very much help. All right. But you were right behind him. You said I was. So, you were on 22nd coming. I'm heading west. Yeah. Okay. Um, was there another vehicle stopped in the left lane next to you waiting to turn? Do you remember? No, I don't think so. Okay. I don't I don't recall though. I wasn't really Okay. No, that's fine. I mean, no, cuz I typically turn left here and I don't feel like there was. Okay. Cuz I probably would have been slowing down more. Okay. And you said that you can't really say what type of vehicle it was. No, I'm pretty sure it was white though. Okay. But um other than that, I couldn't tell you. I heard I just heard what other people were saying. Okay. Not much in the way of surveillance footage along 22nd of like at that intersection or anything down there? No. Well, I'm going to have to walk down that way. Yeah. I'm just trying to get the gist of what's going on right now. It's just so horrible when people leave. That's all I kept thinking. They just won't leave. That's really what makes it the worst. Be respectful, right? I mean, at least stop. Another witness reported that the SUV turned abruptly leading to the crash. She recalled seeing the SUV speed away right after the impact and even considered chasing after it, but decided it was more important to stay and help the victim. With limited information about the driver, officers would need to rely on home surveillance footage from nearby residences. But even that didn't guarantee results. There was no certainty they'd find anything useful. The case was already complicated, but in the coming days, something unexpected happened. How you doing, Mr. Pow? What's going on? What's going on? Um, I was involved in the crime that took place. Where was that? 45th and 22nd 22nd 45th Street. Okay. South. Okay. Go ahead and put your hands behind your back. We're just going to detain you for now and then we're going to talk to you. Okay. Talk to you. Okay. All right. Anybody got a notepad? I do. You got your ID on you? No, sir. Okay. I was going to take you to handcuffs while we talk. All right. There's just a form that I'm going to ask you to sign. Um, I didn't get to pack you down outside. Do you have anything on you in your pocket? 2 days later, Jaqua Powell walked into the police station and turned himself in. He admitted he was the driver responsible for the crash at 22nd Avenue South and 45th Street South. Officers clearly surprised took him into custody and moved him to an interview room. No one was entirely sure what had prompted him to come forward, but his confession made the investigation easier. Still, they had to hear his side of the story and figure out what to do next. The victim had died only hours after the crash. This was no longer just an accident. It was now a fatality. All right. So, what's going on? What brings you in here today? So, I was involved in an accident that took place on 45th and 22nd. Okay. So, I was coming up what is that? 49th at Golfport. Okay. During a cash Uber and I turned right at the um intersection of 49th and 22nd. I merged over to the left lane and I came up to um 45th. I I hit my blinker and then I yielded and it was a it was a blue truck right here I believe in this lane and I didn't in the lane with you or where was that blue truck coming this way like to the if you're coming down 22nd this way and then you're coming up. So they were coming the other way you're saying? Yeah they were right here like this my lane this their lane like we're both in our intersections. Okay. And um you know how like you kind of like creep and you probably stick your head up like this to see I didn't I honestly didn't see anything. So, I went to going and as I was going, I guess um the motorcycle hit us or whatever the case may be and just out of like all the the the the screaming in the car and everything, I panicked and I left the scene. And when I left the scene, I went to my sister house and I've been just sleeping. I just been sleeping. I I ain't been able to eat. Haven't been able to even barely sleep. like I can go to sleep and then I just wake up and I'm I'm shouting. I'm scared. I'm sweating. Like even right now, like my body is hot. Like I I just haven't been knowing what to do. I ain't had no phone because me and my wife share a phone. So I didn't have no way to contact anything or anyone. So as in uh what is it called this morning, I got up and I go I go get um I I go to my uh my my godfather. Mhm. And before I could get to my godfather, my wife told me like, "Babe, you know, there was a uh accident in a jeep that looked like yours." So I'm like, "What you mean?" And she was just telling me she she had let me see in said that somebody died. And that's what bring me here right now. Cuz like it's not like I'm a killer. Like I don't like I don't live like that. It's just the simple fact that I was scared and I was truly scared. Like I was truly panicking. Didn't know what to do. It felt like I was all by myself. Like I just didn't know what to do. And and that's just what brings me here today just to get my conscience clean, man. I just don't want to see this no more. I don't want to go to sleep. And every time I'm sleeping, I'm just visualizing a car crash. Bro, I don't want I don't want to go through that, bro. I never killed nobody. I never shot nobody. I don't do [ __ ] like that, bro. So the simple fact that bro like this [ __ ] is just weighing on my conscience. I can't do anything. I haven't eaten nothing. I drink water. I throw it up. I can't do anything with myself. I'm I was just in a house losing myself, bro. Every about an hour, bro. I'm just losing myself, bro. Jaquille told investigators that he didn't see anything coming from his side as he was about to turn. So he sped up slightly to make the turn. And that's when the motorcycle heading down the avenue slammed into the SUV. In a panic, he fled the scene and went to his sister's house where he tried to sleep, but the fear and shock kept him from eating or resting. Things only got worse when his wife contacted him with the news that the motorcyclist had died. I like him as question. All right. You got a kid, right? How old? She's 10 months. 10 months old. Okay. You're coming in here today to confess to this crap, right? So, you want to make sure that you're telling the truth and the entire truth that you know about what happened. Okay? That's something that you can then go back to your daughter and say, "I did this. I stood up and took responsibility." Right? The other thing that we're here to talk about is the victim's family needs closure. Right? If a family member of yours was was a victim of this type of thing, they would want that closure and they want the actual person that did this. Okay, with you coming here today, we're not done investigating this crash, okay? So, the more we find out after our conversation is through is either going to be to your benefit or to your detriment. M. So, you need to be as completely honest with us about what you know when he starts asking you questions. And if if you're here for somebody else or if you're trying to to protect somebody else, you need to talk to us honestly before you get yourself in a hole you can't get out of. All right. Yes, sir. Fair enough. Yes, sir. Okay. He's going to ask you some more questions and we'll go from there. Okay. All right. So, kind of going back to I guess the beginning of everything when you started coming at 49th Street, right? Turn right on 22nd, turn left on 45th. Okay. Accident. All right. So, you said that you had picked up two other people on like a cash Uber type of thing, right? And those are the two people that were in the car with you? Yes, sir. Okay. Where did you pick them up? In Gulfport. Where in Golfport? Um, I don't know the exact street, man. I don't I don't know the exact street. Is there any type of landmark that you can remember? Was it I just remember I remember passing once I got them we passed uh got on 49th out of golf court and came straight down golf court turned right in 49th and 22nd. Mhm. Went down 22nd turned left. So, you can't you can't remember any type of landmark on where you pick these people up, whether it's No, I'm telling you how to look. Like, I'm telling you, like I don't Was there any store in the area? Gas station, convenience store? No, you know, there's houses. Was it like a residential street? It was like I could I could I could say houses, you know, in Gulfport. Small houses, big houses. I don't I don't know. It's in Golfport. Like, honestly, it's in Golfport. Like like I'm trying to tell you guys everything I know from step to step without a second, without no mishaps or anything. But we're we're just we're kind of just trying to figure out your I don't know. I don't know. We're going to ask you this stuff. So that's fine. I don't know. All right. I guess moving moving forward to the uh to the actual crash itself. Did the airbags deploy inside the car? I don't even remember like like I'm telling you I got in a wreck man panic I don't even think the air did anything actually I don't think to the best of my knowledge I don't think but like I'm telling you I do not know I don't understand if you guys ever been in a crash where you blacked out and just can't remember I do not know I swear to God to you I do not know I came here today to give y'all everything I know and just get off of my conscience. Okay. I don't understand. Were Were you injured in any way in the crash? I don't know. I don't I don't know. I don't know. I blacked out. I don't know. I don't know what what could that mean or what could that be or any I don't know. I just know my body's been hurting and I've been trying to sleep. Can barely sleep. I haven't eaten. Have not eaten anything. Literally, I can look at food and throw it up like that. Howell tried to convince officers he wasn't guilty of homicide, repeating multiple times that it was just an accident, but the facts remained someone had been seriously hurt and he had left the scene without checking if the person was alive or needed help. Officers had to dig deeper. They couldn't close the case and Pal would have to go through a full interrogation which left him visibly rattled. Um, inside the car, do you remember what what kind of like what kind of radio was inside the car? What kind of radio? Yeah. Was it like a like a basic radio? Like a high-tech radio? What kind of Jeep radio? A Jeep radio, I guess. I don't I don't You remember if it had like a big screen, little screen, no screen? The radio? It had a screen. It had a screen. All right. Did you uh did Were you like plugged into it with your cell phone? Not that I remember. No, I usually use Bluetooth phone. You use the Bluetooth? So, you were connected through Bluetooth from your phone. No. No. Okay. And how how did you get possession of the car? Sucks, man. How did How did How did What do you mean from her? Tell my mom. Okay. Her rental. But how did you get the car from her? You must have met her somewhere in person to trade off cars or something. Yeah, she let me get the car. But where? Um, is that intersection um, her house? What the hell? Her house. Oh, excuse my language, man. I'm not trying to do you like that. Where's her house at? I don't know where her address. So, how'd you meet her there if you don't know where it is? You got Because I know exactly how to get there. Okay. So, where you come down 66, you make a left on the 82nd and the house is the next street. You go you you literally come straight down 66. 82nd north. You bend that left. You go straight down. You missed the first right. I mean, you missed the first left and then it's the it's the house right there on your left. After that first left, it's not the house towards this side of the street, but this side of the street is pulling. Okay. And did did you ask her to rent the car for you? Did you ask her to rent the car for you? No, I didn't ask her nothing like that. She she she just let me get the car like So, she rented it, then she called you and said, "You want to use this car?" And you said yes. No, she rented the car. Mhm. And then she allowed me to get in that car. Okay. But how but how did that conversation come about? Did you ask her? Be over there with her sons. Like this is this is this is someone who I've already been around. Like you feel me? So it's not And then like I tell you like I'm not up to no like I'm not doing nothing bad. So it's not like anybody would not allow me to use their car. Like I'm a good person. I don't know if y'all well y'all don't know me outside of this situation, but anybody will let me like, bro, I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm a good person, man. Did the two of you exchange any money for you using the car? Did you pay her in any way to use the car? What you mean? She got the car for me off of her bank account, right? But did you like reimburse her any amount of money like for the car? No. No. Okay. She got the rental car for me and that was it. Okay. So, she she picked up the rental car herself. Yes, she went and got the rental car. Okay. I can't get a rental car with her name. When's uh When's the last time you talked to her? When the last time I talked to um Probably like the day I got a car. Shoot. Okay. You remember what you guys were talking about? [Music] She was just really trying to let me get the car. Like she was trying, you know, I was I was trying to get in the car and she was like, "Okay." That was just that was just it. That was really the whole conversation. Okay. But it's like And after after the after the crash happened, you said that you went to basically a friend's house. You took a Uber to your sisters. Listen to me. After that crash happened, man, I don't know nothing. Okay. Literally like I remember getting out of that car and I don't know. Jaqua grew increasingly nervous as the questioning continued and eventually began raising his voice. He claimed he couldn't remember much beyond the moment of impact. The repeated question seemed to frustrate him and some parts of the story didn't add up. Officers couldn't afford to overlook anything. They were dealing with a fatal incident and needed every possible detail to move forward. I honestly don't remember. And it's like the more like I sit right here and then I'm trying to remember and I'm trying to help you guys with everything I could possibly give you guys. Literally, man, I swear to God to you. I'm trying to help you with everything I have, but I don't know. Literally, I was lost, man. We appreciate that. We're just We're just trying to We're trying to piece everything together so we know exactly. Lost for real, bro. Like, I was lost, man. I'm still like lost, man. I don't know. I don't even know what's I don't even know what's going to happen to me. I don't know next time I'm going to see my daughter. I don't know next time when I'm going to hug my wife. I don't even I can't even talk to my mom. Me and my mom going through so much right now. And my mom don't even want to talk to me. I don't know what's going to happen in my life. I don't. I don't. And I'm here just trying to own up to everything that I have done. But this is all I know because this is all I did. Literally, this is all I did. I got in a rant and I left and that's it. And And it's in his in his in and in in and the hard truth about it is I left. I have a driver's license. I should have stayed my stupid ass there, but I left. I left. And that's the thing that's me over because I left. I would have been okay. I would have been straight. Okay. I would have been okay, man. Just please take me to jail, man. Please get this over with, man. Just take me to jail, man. All right. Have a seat for a few minutes. All right. Take me to jail, man. Take me to jail. Yeah, we'll have you out of here pretty quick, man. I'm so sorry, sir. I'm so sorry. I wish I could give you more information, sir. I swear to you. I wish I could. I get it. Sometimes Sometimes you black out and you forget things. I wish I could, man. I wish I could. I wish I could just help you. I wish. It's It's It's like he said, we're just trying to piece everything together, making sure that everything makes sense and that we're getting the right person. All right. The family needs closure. They got soldier. They got closure. They can see me. I get on my knees and tell them how sorry I am because I am. Because at the end of the day, it was an accident. It was a freak accident. Like it wasn't like I I tried to come out and say, "Oh, today you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to kill a motorcyclist." Or, "Today, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to pull off from the scene of a crash." Like, that's not what I Okay. woke up and told myself like how how old is your kid? My kid is 10 months. 10 months. 10 months, bro. When will be the next time I see her? Who knows? Who knows? Who knows? You have a daughter. I have a daughter, bro. I have a daughter, bro. Somebody that got to look up to me. Somebody who I need to be in their life every day. Somebody that I need to I need to wake her up in the morning and change diapers. I need to wake up and get her ass dressed. I need to wake up and wash her mouth out, wash her face, get everything in I need to be done for my daughter, man. I love my kid, man. I Man, I love my kid, bro. I never ever let my life get taken away from my kid, bro. I made a promise, bro. How long How long you and your girl been together? We've been together for 2 years, man. I made a promise, man. I made a promise. And I made a promise. And from the day I laid eyes for my daughter, I was there, bro. I was there. I seen I cut the umbilical cord. I watched everything come out of my wife, man. I was there, bro. I seen everything, bro. I didn't have $20 in my pocket that day. Couldn't get my daughter from the hospital. Couldn't get us from the hospital. I take it I take it when you had your daughter. That's about when you kind of stopped getting in trouble cuz that looks like all your trouble stuff is kind of maybe 2, three years in the past, right? Yes. Is that what made you like kind of turning stuff around? cuz it looked like you were like hard to get in trouble a lot and then all of a sudden like you just kind of stopped. I've made magic in my life behind this little girl, man. Literally, bro. Literally magic. Is that why you're doing the Uber stuff? Is like to try to make some money for her? Magic, bro. This is all I know is just to take care of my family, bro. Just take care of Are you working anywhere else? I work at King Queen Christian Schooling. Supervising like what? the afterare or you teach a class or it's basically like teaching a class but it's supervising basically like there's no teachers is it like a preschool? Yeah, it's it's No, it's not a preschool. It's K through 12. Okay. Kindergarten through 12th grade. Like I'm in a high school class. So really we don't it's not like teaching. Not like teaching, but it's like I got my diploma. I had a 3.7 GPA graduating. Where did you get Where did you get your diploma from? I got my diploma actually from a G GED school in Tallahassee. Okay. But because of why all the way up in Tallahassee? H why why up in Tallahassee? Because when I was like 15 16 years old, you know, I was going through a lot of stuff in and out of some trouble. Yeah, I saw. So, um I asked I offered just get me away from here. Okay. So, you were you were up there and you did a program to get your GED. Mhm. Okay. I just wanted to get away, man. I came back and you know, as soon as I came back, you know what happened? I [ __ ] my life up even more. Soon as I came back, literally the same month I came back, I got into some bullit and they have nothing to do with me, but trying to keep it real with people who ain't never going to keep it real with me and me up in here. Yeah, you ended up hanging out with the wrong crowd even though you turned stuff around and kind of dragged it back down. Turn around. Get out. Say, you know what? Stand away from that. Stand away from that. Stay away from Did you get sent back to JDC after you messed around with them? No, I got sent to county. I got Oh, you got direct filed. They sent you the county to the juvie section in county. No, I did 30 days on ankle monitor and then after my birthday they came and picked me up and told me I was going to county. Okay. How long did you do in county? Um not too long. I I got out on um like a few months. No, not even that. Oh, a couple days. I got my first offense, you know. Okay. I got out um did probation, withheld judication, you feel me? And stayed out of trouble, bro. I stayed out of trouble. I swear to God. So that's when you turn it around. You stayed all out of trouble. Stayed out of trouble. Literally like even even like I say like two years ago they tried to come and get me about something because I was at um that was when you still on probation, right? Yeah. I was on probation. Bowling Ali incident happened. They tried to make it seem like it was me. It wasn't me. They know it wasn't me. But you didn't go you didn't get bopped and get sent back right for that. I got vaulted and I went and did five months in. Okay. So you did you did five months for that in county. Did five months in county. All charges dropped. Everything got dropped. So then back out back on page back and that was the last time I think you had any kind of law enforcement, right? Yes. Cuz it looked like and I'm going to guess that you had your daughter. You found she was pregnant probably not too long after that, right? Cuz she's 10 months old and then nine months and your wife I got out. Your girlfriend? I got out. Literally, I got out. I didn't talk to nobody. My wife came and got me from jail. I broke Tai's work. Told her I just need to get out. I just need to focus on myself and get myself together. Get my head together. 3 days later, I got money. I got money. I wanted. And this is the only person who I knew to go have. Got her pregnant. By the end of the month, she was pregnant. We broke up due to Bro, this is why my daughter means so much to me. cuz my wife's pregnancy was hell. I treated her like on so many levels because of my attitude and learning to just be a man and accepting my responsibilities for what I did. So on March 6th, we had a gender reveal and I thought that it was a daughter, a girl, and I told her to move back in. I told her, "No matter what, you going to have this baby. We going to take care of this baby, but right now, I just need you to focus on this baby and I just want to make everything up to you." And I did that. It sounds like It sounds like you stepped up. A lot of guys been like, "I've been doing this. I've been doing this, man. This what hurts the most. I swear to God, man. Like, like I'm an honest dude, bro. If I did something, I'm going to own up to it. And at the end of the day, I'm going to I'm going to accept my consequences, you know? Yeah. I mean, it's most important thing is to, you know, about being a man is owning up to your mistakes, you know, tell the truth. Always be honest. And I'm leaving them. And it's like, how could I? I agree. It's a shame. It sounds like you've been like a standup guy. Like the kind of guy we want out there raising daughters cuz that's how you raise a good daughter. promised her to never leave her side no matter what. Even when we argue, I take her to the side. I drop her into the next room just to let her know like this isn't what you going to be raised around like like yelling, screaming, "We not going to do this." Bro, I done switched my whole attitude. I switched my whole life. Did a whole 360 for my daughter and for me to be in how much I love her. Was that right before you came in here? Sucks, man. It sucks. I can't imagine not being able to go home and see my daughter. I imagine. It's horrible. It sucks. It sucks. Like, it sucks a lot. It sucks. It sucks, man. It sucks, bro. I'm not going to lie. It sucks. Like, it sucks, bro. It sucks so bad, bro. And I knew like this is just something I have to deal with. At the end of the day, I was in a room. I should have never left. Something I got to deal with. Something I got to man up and say, "All right, it's time. It's it's we got to handle this." Like, I didn't know it was this serious. Yeah. I mean, these are these aren't charges and you're you're an adult now. It's not like when you were in Jew even getting direct filed as Jew. These are serious stuff. I didn't I didn't know it was that serious. I actually didn't I just thought I kind of knew right and I was going to come clean anyways. But yeah, I mean even if he'd been hurt, it wouldn't be that serious. Like came clean anyways. But the simple fact that man, he's dead, bro. Nobody deserves to die, man. Yeah. And I mean, his family, you know, his family obviously is going to want justice. You know, his wife and they wouldn't get it. I mean, my family would want justice if it was me. Yeah. I that's all of our families want the same, you know. So, it's like they're going to get it and I'm here to give it to them. I'm here. I'm here. That's pretty big of you to step up do that. I'm here. I'm not running. I'm not running. I was afraid, but I'm not running. I'm not running. I can't run. I'm not even a runner. You can look up my history. Anytime I've ever had a warn anytime I've ever I looked at I looked at it a little bit. I I I I come. No, you're not one of those guys always running. It looks like you always pretty much just give up. Run. Running brings too much of problems, man. Running brings too much of problems. You have to go through so much to run from something when you can just face it head on. At the end of the day, you're in the wrong and nobody's going to be able to change that. Nobody can't bring him back. Nobody can change this family. That's done now. It's all done. There's nothing. Nobody can change this. Nobody can change this. And I'm willing to accept everything that comes with it. It just hurts, man. That everything that I've worked towards and everything that I set aside and made myself to be. It's like it's all going down a drain. Who knows when I'll be out, man? Who knows when I ever get back home? Who knows when next time I'll hold my daughter, kiss my wife, bro. And then like a lot of times it's like people leave, you know, like she's my wife, she's the mother of my child, but it's like and you don't know how she's going to act when she finds out about this. Is she going to be angry at you or like like I don't want it to be like I'm stopping people's lives. I'm not selfish. I'm not selfish at all with nothing. I don't care what it is. I'm not selfish. And I understand there's a lot of selfish people out here. So, I try my hardest not to be selfish. And if that means that she got to go on with my daughter and they got to just live their life without me, I got to let that happen. I can't drag them along everywhere because of a silly mistake that I made. I mean, at the same time, your your daughter needs her father in her life. Yeah, but I can't drag them alone. I understand that I up my life. I can't up theirs too, bro. I can't I can't be selfish like that. I can't make them I can't lock their their their heads in [ __ ] jail cell because if I up my life, man. That just is what it is, bro. Like, no matter how I look at it, no matter how I try to make gray out of this situation, like no, I up and it's time to own up. Like, it's time to just get it over with. Like you don't need to understand, sir. I don't There's not many people that can understand what you're going through right now. Understand, sir. My officers probably think I'm lying. I'm trying to tell the whole truth. Well, you got to understand there's a lot of questions and you know, people are going to ask us lots of questions. We got to try to answer all of them. And I know it's hard for you to answer all of them. So, you know, it's a traumatic thing. Even though technically, you know, you're the suspect, it's still a traumatic thing that you went through. Obviously, it's bothered you. You wouldn't be here if it didn't bother you. So, but we got to make sure we can answer those questions, you know, cuz his family's going to want to have answers. Your family's going to want to have answers. Everyone's going to want answers. That's why it's important for us to try to ask all the questions so we can answer everyone's questions cuz that's usually what makes people feel most at peace is when we can answer all the questions. I'll stay I'll stay with them. I'm going to be honest with you. You seem like a good stand up guy. And you know what? You made a bunch of mistakes when you were younger. That's just, you know, we all know it's true. You made a bunch of mistakes when you were younger. But I mean, dude, seems like you turned your life around. Seems like you were doing good. You had a daughter. You're like, you were doing stuff. But like the sergeant said, there's some stuff that doesn't seem It kind of seems to us like maybe you're trying to do the right thing for your family and not telling us the whole truth. And only you know it cuz you said you're a man. We're going to take you at your word. That's why you're going to go to jail today. Well, they're going to take all that at the jail and put it in your property. Put it all together in your property. We just don't want to risk anything getting lost in between. We try to take the minimal amount so that No, no. That's what I'm That's what I'm saying. He's saying he's going to take my shell out of my pocket. My shell is is connected to these these red beads and these on my neck. Okay. So, you want those to come off? Okay. Can I take them off with you? We can't touch them. We can't touch them. No, because it's it's it's like Have y'all ever I don't know if y'all ever like heard of um like basically guru like basically Haitian2 like like EA the the religion is EA century, you feel me? And Yep. I'm familiar with that. Yeah. And no one can touch these beside me. Like just just just being just being real. Like that's why I'm saying like even even in front of you guys. I'll take them off right now. They just I just Please You just need to take them off and put them in the bag is what you're saying. Yes. Can I can I reach in my pocket? I need to put them in this bag right here. You You have a bag. Listen Listen to me. Would you mind if I looked in the bag before you put them in just to make sure there's nothing there? And I emptied everything out for him. Okay. You took it out. So hold on. It's just this this shell right here. Yep. And then this this $2 bill right here. Okay. 22. Everything has to stay together. You kind of get what I'm saying? Like everything goes into this set. I don't I don't They're not going to let you do that. They're going to take the $2. They're going to take it from you out of the jail. They're going to take the $2 bill. The $2 bill. They're going to want to put with the other money and they're going to open your bag and check it. That's you can keep it on your right. You can keep it all together in one spot now, but they're going to take it out of the gym. They can they can deal with that. We got a big bag. So, yeah. I mean, if they want to [Applause] Jaquille Powell, age 20, would be arrested and charged with leaving the scene of a crash involving death. Depending on the circumstances of the case, along with his prior criminal record, he could be facing prison time, probation, or restitution. [Music]