'They slit throats': Body cam footage from alleged Jon Jones car crash appears to show fighter threatening officers

Albuquerque Police has released body cam footage from the scene of a car accident that former UFC champion Jon Jones is accused of fleeing from in late February.

In the video, obtained by the Albuquerque Journal, a police safety aide arrives on the scene of the crash on the night of Feb. 21, and is handed a cell phone by the woman in the passenger seat. She claims that Jones was the person driving the car, and encourages the police safety aide to talk to Jones on her phone.

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Once the aide activates speaker phone, we hear a voice that sounds very much like Jones’, though clearly inebriated and slurring at times. He immediately begins making threats, referencing surveillance techniques and repeatedly mentioning his “brothers,” who he implies will kill people for him.

“They slit throats,” the man on the other end of the phone says at one point. “They’re the most evil people you’ll ever meet.”

The woman in the passenger seat, who says the car is hers, identifies the man on the phone as the former UFC champion, who just this past Saturday announced his retirement from MMA and vacated his heavyweight title. The man on the phone repeatedly suggests that he can have people killed, even over minor issues.

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“That’s Jon Jones. … He was the one driving the vehicle,” the woman tells the police safety aide.

The aide then explains that, due to the threats, he has to call another officer with the Albuquerque Police Department. Immediately after that, the man on the phone continues making threats.

“Guess what, you won’t be the first guy this year that I’ve threatened, swear to God,” the person on the phone says. “You’d be the second one. … My brothers, they kill people for way less.”

Jones is currently facing a criminal summons on a misdemeanor charge of leaving the scene of an accident. Christopher Dodd, Jones’ attorney, pushed back on the charge in a statement to Uncrowned earlier this week, claiming that “an intoxicated woman used a false allegation against Jon to avoid being arrested for [driving while intoxicated], and the police fell for it.” Dodd also said that police sought a warrant for Jones’ cell phone records, which he insisted was highly unusual for a “misdemeanor traffic investigation” of this kind.

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“I have never heard of such a thing,” Dodd said in the statement. “It is truly unbelievable that the police would waste this amount of resources on such a case. The only thing I can think of is that the police were targeting Jon for improper purposes. We will get to the bottom of it and make sure that this baseless case is dismissed.”

According to a police report obtained by Uncrowned, the woman told police that she arrived at Jones' residence at 11:30 p.m. on the night of the crash and initially "expressed reservations about consuming alcohol with Mr. Jones, citing previous incidents where she alleged he forced her to drive home while intoxicated. She stated that she received assurances that this would not be the case this time, and subsequently consumed alcohol and ingested psilocybin mushrooms" at Jones' house.

Per the police report, following "a restroom incident requiring a change of clothing," the woman then "removed her pants with the intention of having Mr. Jones drive her home to retrieve clothing." Her next recollection was being at the scene of the traffic accident and the last person she remembered driving the car was Jones. Jones also reportedly called the woman's phone 13 times and texted her "numerous times" from the time after the crash to the following morning.

Jones has not commented publicly on the charge, but did issue a tweet shortly after news of the incident became public.

@JonnyBones: "Keep in mind, even the media can get it wrong sometimes if they don’t have all the facts. Don’t believe everything you read online." 😘

Jones is due in court on July 24 for a bond arraignment.