VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – The case involving a woman, who Virginia Beach Police said repeatedly tried to pull a gun on an officer during a struggle, is heading to trial.
Standing in an orange jumpsuit during her preliminary hearing Friday, Jacqueline Ortiz-Whitaker, 20, was stoic as two Virginia Beach police officers testified against her.
One of those witnesses was the detective who was trying to detain Ortiz-Whitaker during a traffic stop when he shot and killed her husband DeShawn Whitaker after police said he pointed a gun at the detective.
Police body cam video showed the chaotic moments playing out in a strip mall parking lot in December.
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Police said the husband-wife duo was pulled over for a reported stolen car. That’s when investigators say Whitaker took off on foot and Ortiz-Whitaker tried to run too but she was tackled to the ground.
During a struggle, that detective testified Friday that Ortiz-Whitaker repeatedly grabbed her gun and pulled it out. But in a jailhouse interview days after her December arrest, Ortiz-Whitaker denied those claims despite body cam video showing that moment.
“I couldn’t even reach it [the gun],” Ortiz-Whitaker said from jail. “The officer is trying to make it seem like me and my husband were a threat to that officer. We really weren’t.”
Prosecutors were poking holes in Ortiz-Whitaker’s story in court and showed a new video of police questioning her in an interrogation room.
The defense, however, argued Ortiz-Whitaker could have shot the officer but didn’t, adding she never threatened him.
“They’re saying I assaulted this officer but I’m the one with bruises,” Ortiz-Whitaker said in December from jail.
She now faces felony charges for assaulting an officer and for having a stolen car. Ortiz-Whitaker also faces five misdemeanor charges.
The case is set to go to trial on May 3.
Ortiz-Whitaker is being held in Virginia Beach city jail with no bond.
