Jon Jones Cleared of Charges After Incident
The former UFC heavyweight champion, Jon Jones, has had all charges against him dismissed related to an incident that occurred in February. Jones was facing charges for allegedly leaving the scene of an accident and threatening a police officer. The Bernalillo County, New Mexico, District Attorney’s Office decided to drop all charges on Tuesday, justifying its position on the credibility of Jones’s alibi. An unusual detail is that the charges were filed twice due to an “administrative error,” resulting in the dismissal of multiple cases related to the same incident.The accusations against Jones arose following a car accident on February 21 in Albuquerque, his hometown. Police responded to the incident, finding a semi-nude woman in the vehicle, who claimed that Jones was driving and had left. The body camera footage revealed that the woman called a man who, according to her, was Jones, who then made verbal threats to the officer at the scene. In June, Jones appeared to implicate himself as the man on the phone, writing and then deleting on X: “whoever was on the phone with me at first, their timestamp is different. By the time he was acting aggressive on the phone, it was a completely different conversation. I was already in my paranoid and defensive state.” Throughout his career, Jones has faced various legal issues. In 2015, he was arrested and charged with a felony hit-and-run after leaving the scene of a crash that injured a 25-year-old pregnant woman. He pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and was sentenced to supervised probation. Additionally, Jones pleaded guilty to charges of driving while intoxicated in 2012 in New York and in 2020 in New Mexico. Widely regarded as one of the best fighters of all time, Jones retired from competition earlier this year, rather than attempt to unify his heavyweight title against the interim champion. However, he quickly announced his intention to come out of retirement with the hope of competing in the event planned by the UFC at the White House next July.I want to start by thanking the prosecution for carefully reviewing the facts and, ultimately, vindicating me completely. I have always believed in the importance of truth and justice, and I am grateful that the evidence spoke for itself. The simple fact is this: I was never there. I didn’t even leave my house that night, and all the evidence proved it.
Jon Jones
