Colorado officials have released gruesome CCTV footage of the moment a runaway suspect was tasered on a busy highway and then fatally run over.
Brent Allen Thompson, 28, of Loveland was stopped by sheriffs on Feb. 18.
He gave them a fake name: when they ran the name through their system and realized he was lying, they confronted him.
Thompson, later found to have drugs in his car, ran across I-25, with two officers in pursuit.
Thompson jumped the guardrail on the side of the road and ran across the grass separating the two lanes.
He jumped the second barrier to return to the road, and Deputy Lorenzo Lujan tasered him.
Lujan realized too late that Thompson was on the road: seconds later, as a shocked Lujan shouted ‘s***!’ calls, Thompson is run over by a pickup truck.
Brent Thompson, 28, died Feb. 18 after being run over after being tasered by sheriffs
Brent Thompson, 28, was apprehended by police on Feb. 18 near Fort Collins, Colorado
Thompson, who had drugs in the car, ran away from Lujan
Lujan and his colleague dragged Thompson off the road and began CPR until an ambulance arrived.
One of the EMTs says he saw Thompson’s eyes flicker but couldn’t feel a pulse.
Thompson died in hospital.
Last week, the Larimer County District Attorney announced that no criminal charges will be brought against Lujan — a decision that angered the Thompson family.
Gordon McLaughlin, the district attorney, said an investigation and review of the Colorado law found that “there is no reasonable prospect of proving, unanimously and beyond a reasonable doubt, that Deputy Lorenzo Lujan is criminally guilty of attempting to to secure the arrest of Brent Thompson. .’
The family plans to file a civil suit against Larimer County sheriffs, and on Wednesday their attorney, Siddhartha Rathod, said the video was released to show what happened.
Rathod said Lujan’s actions were wild and reckless.
“Nobody in their right mind would give someone a bag on the highway,” he said The Denver Post.
“The public has a right to see this.”
Thompson was tasered by Deputy Lorenzo Lujan and run over seconds later
Lujan and his colleague performed CPR until the ambulance arrived: Thompson was pronounced dead at the hospital
Larimer County Sheriff John Feyen said it’s easy to judge in hindsight.
“We train our deputies to keep the community safe by taking decisive action with the information they have at the time,” Feyen said.
“However, this profession does not have the comfortable luxury of hindsight, and the harsh reality is that unintended consequences can occur.”
Feyen said he met with the Thompson family “and their representatives” and that “first responders … mourn the loss of life in every situation.”
He added, “No one wanted this outcome.”
But the Thompson family said the lack of charges against Lujan “showed once again that the police cannot and will not control themselves,” their lawyer said.
Rathod added: ‘At the time Brent was on the run from the police, he was only suspected of committing the crimes of driving with an expired registration and giving a false name to the police.
“Tasing a person in the middle of a highway at night is criminal and reprehensible behavior and has no place in law enforcement.”
Rathod described the incident as “negligent homicide” and Lujan’s actions as “criminally negligent” and a “deviation from the standard of care.”
He added, “The Thompson family has no choice but to seek justice before a civil jury.”
Brent’s father, David Thompson, said they wanted justice for their son.
“It hurts us so much if this prosecutor can sit there and say what, was it a mistake?” he said.
“There are no charges against this person. There’s no justice here.’