Altercation between deputy and Jennings man ends violently

Published 2:49 pm Wednesday, December 21, 2005

When Hamilton County Sheriff’s Deputy Bobby Boatwright responded to a 9-1-1 call early on the morning of Dec. 11, he didn’t expect to have to pull his weapon nor to use it. But a violent altercation between the deputy and a man in a motel room ended in the death of Antonio Javar Whetstone, age 27, of Jennings.

According to Sheriff Harrell Reid, Whetstone and an unidentified woman were staying in Room 115 of the North Florida Inn in Jennings. Lavita Daniels of Jennings, Whetstone’s girlfriend, went to the motel room, pushed the air conditioning unit into the room, crawled through the hole and began arguing with the other woman.

Sheriff Reid said that when Deputy Boatwright arrived at the motel, he saw a one-year-old child in the parking lot heading toward the road. The officer picked up the child and asked a woman who was standing outside the open door of Room 115 if the child was hers. She pointed inside the room. The officer tried to give the child to the woman, but the child would not go to her. So he entered the room, still carrying the child.

Deputy Boatwright heard loud voices in the bathroom, according to Sheriff Reid. When he went to the door of the bathroom, the child saw Daniels, who was its mother, and went to her. At this point, Sheriff Reid said Whetstone came from behind the bathroom door and grabbed Daniels in a choke hold.

Sheriff Reid stated that Deputy Boatwright drew his weapon and repeatedly told Whetstone, “Let them go! Let them go!” Daniels was still holding the child, but Whetstone refused and reached between his body and that of the woman’s as if he were grabbing a weapon.

According to the sheriff, at that time, Deputy Boatwright holstered his weapon and pulled the taser and fired at Whetstone with the taser. Although Whetstone was hit by the taser, he did not release Daniels and the child. Instead he pulled a weapon and fired at the officer over Daniels’ shoulder, Sheriff Reid said.

In spite of the danger to himself, Deputy Boatwright grabbed Daniels and the child from Whetstone, while drawing his weapon and firing several times at Whetstone, Sheriff Reid said. As the officer fired at Whetstone, he pulled the woman and the child outside the bathroom to safety, Sheriff Reid added. Neither Daniels nor the child were injured.

According to Sheriff Reid, a tape of the confrontation confirms that Deputy Boatwright told Whetstone fifty to sixty times to release Daniels and the child. Sheriff Reid stated that Daniels confirmed that Whetstone fired first.

“This a terrible tragedy,” Sheriff Reid commented. “I’m sorry for the family of the young man, but he fired first. The officer had no choice under the circumstances – he rescued the woman and the child and there were no other injuries.”

The case is under investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the State Attorney and will go to the grand jury. According to Sheriff Reid, the investigators feel that Deputy Boatwright was totally justified in his actions.

Whetstone had previously been arrested on numerous drug charges and was a convicted felon, Sheriff Reid noted. At the time of the incident, he was out on bond on charges of possession and sale of cocaine, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an altered serial number.

According to Sheriff Reid, the weapon used by Whetstone during the altercation was stolen.