Hinesville mother says off-duty deputy pointed gun at her, son during pursuit over stolen bike

HINESVILLE, Ga. (WTOC) - A Hinesville mother says the most terrifying moment of her life happened inside her own home, when a man she didn’t recognize forced his way in with a gun while pursuing her son over a stolen bicycle.

That man, according to a Liberty County Sheriff’s Office incident report, was off-duty Sgt. Jason Sanders.

“I hear my son yelling, ‘Mom, he got a gun, he got a gun,’” said Kijuana Wilson, describing the moment she opened her bedroom door on Sept. 10. “I was confronted by this man with a gun, pointed directly out of my face. He was enraged.”

Wilson’s son, 24-year-old Dasean Leonard, was arrested that night on a misdemeanor theft by taking charge. He was released the following day.

Wilson called 911 during the confrontation. In that call, obtained by WTOC, she can be heard telling a dispatcher a man had broken into her home with a gun and no badge.

“A man just ran into my house with a gun. He didn’t have a badge on... he’s a white male, he said he works with the Sheriff’s Department. He didn’t have no badge... he busted into my house,” Wilson told the 911 operator.

“He does not work with the police department. Can you get out of the house?” the dispatcher responded.

Moments later, Sanders went to his unmarked vehicle that was parked outside to grab his badge. The 911 operator then confirmed that he was an officer with the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office.

What the incident report says

According to the Sheriff’s Office incident report, Sanders was off duty at his home when he saw Leonard riding a bicycle he didn’t recognize. The report states Sanders confirmed with the bike’s owner that no one had given Leonard permission to take it, then located Leonard a short distance away.

The report says Sanders identified himself as a sergeant with the Sheriff’s Office and attempted to detain Leonard before Leonard pulled away and ran into the home. Sanders followed him inside, according to the report.

Wilson says she never heard any identification.

“The 911 caller — she’s asking me, did he have anything, did he have a badge? Did he announce himself or say who he were? And I said, no.” Wilson said. “So at that time, he went in his truck and put on a badge, and I was like, okay, so he has a badge.”

The Sheriff’s Office report also describes a different version of what happened once Sanders was inside the home, stating he pointed a weapon-mounted light down a dark hallway, not at Wilson, and was already backing out of the residence when she confronted him.

WTOC has not been able to independently verify either account.

Legal questions

The case has drawn scrutiny from legal experts over whether Sanders had the authority to enter the home at all.

Savannah attorney Jonah Pine pointed to Welsh v. Wisconsin, a 1984 U.S. Supreme Court decision that found warrantless home entries are especially difficult to justify when the underlying offense is minor, such as a misdemeanor theft.

“There is nothing in this particular instance that I’m hearing that has the immediacy that would justify an officer kicking down a door, drawing a firearm, gaining entry into the residence,” Pine said.

“If you have the warrantless arrest of a person in their home, when the officer witnessed the crime themselves, you still can’t do the warrantless arrest — because the officer has to either have consent to enter the residence, or there has to be exigent circumstances,” Pine said.

“The moment you start talking about exigent circumstances and a misdemeanor, you go right back to the case law that says that really, a warrant is the way to go.”

Pine said regardless of the legal analysis, the encounter carried real danger.

“The terror of having somebody gaining entry into your home... we’re lucky nobody got shot here, including the officer,” he said.

What’s next

The Liberty County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to WTOC that the incident is under internal review but declined to say whether Sanders faces discipline.

WTOC has requested additional records from both the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office and the Hinesville Police Department, which also responded to the scene. This story will be updated as new information becomes available.

For Wilson, the legal questions are secondary to what her family experienced.

“This was very traumatic for me and my kids,” she said.

“This is something we’re going to have to live with for a long time. And I’m just blessed and highly favored that we are here to tell the story.”