
After six weeks of insisting the man killed in a pre-dawn raid was a suspect in a carjacking, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department this week reversed course and admitted they gunned down an innocent man.
On July 28, the department was using armored vehicles and a SWAT team armed with assault weapons to search a neighborhood in Compton, Calif., for a man who had stolen a car and exchanged gunfire with police officers before going on the run. They found and arrested the suspect, but then received a 911 call from a resident of the neighborhood who reported seeing an unknown man lying in his front yard.
The department responded in force.
When the unknown man didn't respond to verbal commands, deputies set off flash bang grenades and fired rubber bullets at him. When he rose from the ground and allegedly ran towards the deputies, a deputy sitting in the turret of one of the heavily armored cars fired, killing Donnell Thompson.
Thompson, a 27-year old black man, suffered from mental disabilities. He had nothing to do with the carjacking. He wasn't armed and had not committed a crime.
Even so, the Sheriff's Department spent weeks saying they had reason to believe Thompson was a second suspect in the carjacking incident. After an internal investigation and facing pressure from Thompson's family, the department admitted their mistake this week.
A statement issued by the Sheriff's Department on Tuesday said there was "no evidence that Mr. Thompson was in the carjacked vehicle, nor that he was involved in the assault on the deputies."
At a press conference, Capt. Steve Katz called the incident a "terribly devastating event."
According to the Los Angeles Times, the department conducted an internal review of the shooting after Thompson's family protested the shooting at a Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors meeting. His family described him as a "harmless man who had never been in legal trouble," and wanted charges filed against the officer who pulled the trigger, the paper reported.
"I wouldn't treat an animal this bad," his sister Matrice Stanley told the board, according to the AP. "How is this justifiable?"
Brian Dunn, an attorney representing the Thompson family, told the Huffington Post that the Sheriff's Department's response to the incident was inappropriate.
"In a civilian neighborhood, they bring an urban assault vehicle," Dunn said. "The BearCat, it's like a tank. Their response to this situation was so aggressive. Their tactics were so aggressive."
The department says an investigation into the shooting is still ongoing and the officer who killed Thompsonwho has not been identified publiclyhas been reassigned to non-field duty.
Thompson is not the first person to be killed by a misinformed SWAT team or overly aggressive police tactics. Sadly, but without a doubt, he also won't be the last.
#1: Gatlin To: Deckard (#0)
Hell, YEA!
STAND DOWN - LEO!!
Just let the stupid ass "FUCKERS" kill each other off.
Don't get in their way ...
... "BLUE LIVES MATTER" ...
Gatlin posted on 2016-08-11 08:48:46 Reply Private Reply
#2: Deckard To: Gatlin (#1)
And once again, LF's leading cheerleader for the police state chimes in with more worship of the State.
You and your repulsive ilk sicken me and all freedom-loving Americans.
I sincerely hope that you are on the receiving end of a wrong-house SWAT raid at oh-dark-thirty sometime in the near future.
You'd kneel down and lick the boots of the cops who fucked up and busted down your door.
***
I guess you missed the part where he was innocent.
After an internal investigation and facing pressure from Thompson's family, the department admitted their mistake this week.
A statement issued by the Sheriff's Department on Tuesday said there was "no evidence that Mr. Thompson was in the carjacked vehicle, nor that he was involved in the assault on the deputies."
You're a real piece of shit.
Deckard posted on 2016-08-11 08:56:11 Reply Private Reply
#3: misterwhite To: Deckard (#0)
So I say make carjacking legal.
misterwhite posted on 2016-08-11 09:37:17 Reply Private Reply
#4: Vicomte13 To: Deckard (#0)
Lather, rinse, repeat until the police stop killing people.
Vicomte13 posted on 2016-08-11 09:38:28 Reply Private Reply
#5: nolu chan To: Deckard, Gatlin, misterwhite, Vicomte13 (#0)
https://local.nixle.com/alert/5699772/?sub_id=1000000468
nolu chan posted on 2016-08-11 18:03:42 Reply Private Reply
#6: Titorite2 To: Deckard (#0)
Their is a.reason the pigs are being targeted, they deserve to die.
Titorite2 posted on 2016-08-11 21:36:28 Reply Private Reply
#7: goldilucky To: Gatlin (#1)
goldilucky posted on 2016-08-14 15:04:21 Reply Private Reply
#8: GrandIsland To: Titorite2 (#6)
SWAT builds mobile armored robots with bombs for pussy keyboard warrior fuckstains like you.
lol
GrandIsland posted on 2016-08-14 15:11:29 Reply Private Reply
#9: Deckard To: GrandIsland, Titorite2 (#8)
SWAT doesn't "build" anything freak-show.
Deckard posted on 2016-08-14 15:13:42 Reply Private Reply
#10: GrandIsland To: Deckard (#9)
GrandIsland posted on 2016-08-14 15:19:40 Reply Private Reply
#11: Deckard To: GrandIsland, Titorite2 (#10)
Man. you really are insane.
Typical cop mentality - "If you're not cop, you're little people".
Deckard posted on 2016-08-14 15:21:22 Reply Private Reply
#12: ConservingFreedom To: Vicomte13 (#4)
Works for me.
ConservingFreedom posted on 2016-08-14 15:48:10 Reply Private Reply
#13: GrandIsland To: Deckard (#11)
Well, in your case... dysfuntional anarchist faggot & drug addict loving paultard asshole little people.
GrandIsland posted on 2016-08-14 18:44:29 Reply Private Reply