OFFICER CLEARED IN DEATH

Prosecutors Say Evidence Lacking

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department has cleared a Maryland policeman
of criminal wrongdoing in the fatal shooting of a Howard University
student in Fairfax County.

Federal prosecutors concluded there was insufficient evidence to
bring a civil rights charge against Cpl. Carlton B. Jones, an
undercover narcotics detective for the Prince George's County Police
Department, in the shooting last September, The Washington Post
reported yesterday.

Jones had been trailing the student, Prince C. Jones Jr., in an
unmarked car through Maryland, Washington and suburban Virginia
before the fatal encounter. The detective said he mistakenly thought
Prince Jones was someone else who was involved in drug dealing.

The Justice Department said its 10-month investigation turned up no
evidence to contradict Carlton Jones' contention that he acted in
self-defense and used reasonable force when he fired 16 rounds into
Prince Jones' Jeep Cherokee, hitting the student five times in the
back, as the two vehicles collided.

Carlton Jones had said he feared for his life as Prince Jones backed
his vehicle into the police officer's car.

Fairfax County prosecutors had earlier decided against prosecuting the case.

The case prompted protests among Howard University students and
focused attention on the Prince George's County Police Department,
whose officers had shot 12 people, killing five, over a 13-month
stretch.

Prince Jones, 25, was the son of a doctor and worked as a fitness
instructor as well as being a student at Howard University in
Washington. He was driving from Prince George's County in suburban
Maryland to Fairfax to visit his fiancee and infant daughter when he
noticed being followed by someone in an unmarked car.

A block away from his destination he turned into a driveway,
apparently in an attempt to give his pursuers the slip. The
confrontation with Carlton Jones followed.