The Larimer County District Attorney is saying a Sheriff’s deputy’s actions in one case earlier this year were wrong, but not criminal. It’s part of that prosecutor’s explanation for not charging the deputy who tasered a traffic suspect on I-25 back in February, just before that man fell into interstate traffic and was killed by a car…
(No Charges for Taser Death wrap :49)
Deputies had pulled over Brent Thompson for a traffic violation, who gave a fake name and ran off after being stopped. He was tasered, and fell into the path of an oncoming vehicle. DA Gordon McLaughlin…
230801 G McLaughlin- not a criminal matter :08 Q:…defines it…
McLaughlin says what happened should not have, even though the deputy claimed he was trying to protect Thompson and other drivers…
230801 G McLaughlin- decision not on right or wrong :11 Q:…reasonable doubt…
He notes there is no training on whether to deploy a taser along a highway. Using one on a running suspect is normally all right. McLaughlin says the deputy did not intend for Thompson to die, and he probably wouldn’t be able to prove the deputy “criminally responsible.”
TAG: The DA says the Sheriff’s Office could take internal action to discipline that deputy, but the Sheriff has already said the deputy did not violate policy. The only other option in the case is a lawsuit, and Thompson’s family plans to file one. McLaughlin says only that he hopes the department starts training differently, so something like that case doesn’t happen again.