Prichard Sanitation Worker Clifton DuBose Jr. Dies Two Months After Road-Rage Shooting
Clifton DuBose Jr., the Prichard sanitation worker who was shot and then charged after an Aug. 4 road-rage confrontation on Jarrett Road, has died of complications from his wound, the Mobile County Sheriff's Office says.
MOBILE COUNTY, Ala. — A former Prichard sanitation worker who was shot during a road-rage confrontation in August while on his city route has died. The Mobile County Sheriff’s Office said Clifton DuBose Jr. died last week from complications of the gunshot wound he suffered on Aug. 4.
The sheriff’s office said DuBose had recently gone back to the hospital and died there after his condition got worse. At the time of the shooting, he faced 10 criminal charges after investigators said he forced a family of five off the road with a city sanitation truck and then traded gunfire with someone from the family’s car.
What the sheriff’s office said
An MCSO spokesperson said DuBose’s death was caused by complications from the August shooting, which happened while he was on the job for the City of Prichard. Deputies said he had returned to the hospital shortly before he died.
The sheriff’s office did not give the exact date of death. It also did not say whether the death changes the status of the investigation into the August confrontation.
The Aug. 4 confrontation
The shooting happened at about 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 4, on Jarrett Road. According to Sheriff Paul Burch’s account at the time, DuBose was driving a city sanitation vehicle when he allegedly ran a smaller car off the road. That car carried a man, a woman and three children.
The couple got out and confronted the sanitation driver, and the two sides argued. Burch said that as the argument ended and the man walked back toward his car, DuBose got out of the truck and pointed a gun at the man’s back.
According to the sheriff’s office, the woman from the car then fired two shots, and one hit DuBose. Investigators said DuBose then fired several rounds at the family’s vehicle while the three children were still inside. DuBose and someone from the other vehicle shot at each other, but DuBose was the only person hit. None of the family members were reported injured.
Charges filed after the shooting
After the shooting, the sheriff’s office charged DuBose with five counts of reckless endangerment and five counts of shooting into an occupied vehicle, one count of each for every person in the family’s car. Because he was still in the hospital when the charges were announced, officials said he would be booked into Mobile County Metro Jail after his release. He was presumed innocent of those charges and was never tried.
The sheriff’s office also said in August that DuBose’s driver’s license had expired in June 2023 and had not been renewed. A spokeswoman said at the time that he was also wanted on a 2025 domestic violence warrant.
Prichard Mayor Carletta Davis first reported the shooting in a post on her official Facebook page on the afternoon of Aug. 4. She said a city employee had been hurt in an on-the-job shooting and taken to a hospital. “Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his loved ones as we pray for a full and speedy recovery,” Davis wrote. Read our earlier coverage of the charges.
What happens to the case now
Under Alabama law, as in other states, a criminal case cannot go forward once the defendant has died. Charges that are still pending at the time of death are generally dismissed, because there is no longer anyone to prosecute. That means the 10 counts against DuBose will not be tried.
In August, investigators said the woman fired first, after DuBose pointed a gun at her companion’s back. The sheriff’s office has not announced charges against anyone from the family’s car. Alabama’s self-defense law allows a person to use deadly physical force to defend themselves or someone else when they reasonably believe another person is about to use unlawful deadly force. A person who is somewhere they have a legal right to be and is not the initial aggressor has no duty to retreat.
When a person dies of injuries suffered in a shooting, even weeks or months later, the death is typically reviewed by the coroner or medical examiner to determine the cause and manner of death. In Alabama, a law enforcement agency can present a death to the district attorney, who decides whether to take it to a grand jury. Authorities have not said whether the Mobile County District Attorney’s Office will review DuBose’s death.
Key dates
- Aug. 4, 2026: DuBose is shot during a road-rage confrontation on Jarrett Road while working a Prichard sanitation route. He is taken to a hospital.
- After the shooting: The sheriff’s office charges DuBose with five counts of reckless endangerment and five counts of shooting into an occupied vehicle.
- Recently: DuBose goes back to the hospital as his condition worsens.
- Last week: DuBose dies of complications from the gunshot wound, the sheriff’s office says.
Road rage and gun safety
Law enforcement agencies, including the sheriff’s office, regularly urge drivers not to engage with an aggressive driver. Safety advice includes not making eye contact or gestures, not getting out of the car to confront another driver, and keeping enough distance to pull away. A driver who feels threatened can call 911 with the vehicle’s description, the tag number if it can be read safely, and the location, or drive to a police station or another busy public place.
Anyone with information about the Aug. 4 shooting can contact the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office at 251-574-8633.
