Hitchhiker explains what led up to fatal shooting of officer

A hitchhiker who authorities say jumped into a car with two Ohio fugitives before one of them fatally shot a New Mexico police officer says he had no way of knowing that the two men were suspects in a killing halfway across the country.

Tony Jones also told the Las Cruces Sun-News he couldn’t have imagined how the encounter would have ended up with all three being jailed in New Mexico.

Authorities say the car’s driver, 38-year-old Jesse Hanes of Columbus, Ohio, fatally shot Hatch police Officer Jose Chavez during an Aug. 12 traffic stop.

Hanes and another passenger in the car, 36-year-old James Nelson of Newark, Ohio, are accused in the July 25 shooting death of a 62-year-old man just outside Chillicothe, Ohio.

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