leldf.org

by David H. Martin

ARLINGTON, VA — The Chief of Police of a small Nebraska town has been acquitted of second-degree assault in a case involving threats to his life, endangerment to the community, and a life-or-death decision that brought about the death of a local young delinquent. Richard Thompson, 56, the once-popular police chief of Crawford, Nebraska, has spent nearly two years of his life fighting a charge that should never have been levied. I believe that justice has finally been done in this case, albeit much too slowly. 

What makes this case noteworthy is that Chief Thompson had a gun pointed at his head by a youth who was obviously resisting arrest. The fact that the suspect was a 16-year-old juvenile delinquent further justifies Chief Thompson’s actions.

According to witnesses, Jesse Britton, who had been recently released from a youth correctional facility, had stolen a gun, was the leading suspect in series of robberies and a bomb threat, and had threatened to shoot his own girlfriend and Chief Thompson.

The fatal incident occurred on October 3, 2007, when Britton hid in an abandoned building to evade arrest. Chief Thompson, accompanied by other officers, hoped to get the young hoodlum to turn himself in. With back-up officers outside, Chief Thompson and park police officer Dan Kling entered the building. Searching the premises, they spotted Britton crouching behind a desk. “Police! Show your hands!” they commanded repeatedly. Instead of complying, the young miscreant jumped up and pointed a 22-caliber revolver at Chief Thompson’s head.

What would you do if a wild-eyed youth who had already threatened to kill you pointed a gun at your head? While Nebraska is no longer the wild west as portrayed in John Wayne movies, nevertheless Chief Thompson had to make a split-second choice: either shoot in self defense or be killed. He shot one bullet, and his partner, knowing that the Chief was in imminent danger, also fired. Young Jesse Britton was struck and died.

Under Nebraska law, a grand jury must be convened when a person perishes while being apprehended. A number of questionable procedures occurred that resulted in the unfair charge, such as using an expert in the grand jury proceedings to influence the jurors to find that Chief Thompson was “reckless.” Reckless? I am not sure what charges would have been levied at the suspect if Chief Thompson had been wounded or killed, but reckless is hardly the word to describe his actions that day.

But the special prosecutor choose the word “reckless” for a reason. According to Nebraska law, use of force is not justified if the acts involved are deemed to be “reckless.” 

Following the grand jury finding, Chief Thompson faced a second-degree assault charge which, if he had been convicted, carried a five-year sentence. In November 2007, he was suspended without pay from the police force pending the results of the prosecution and was facing a minimum of $100,000 in legal fees. His family had to post a $50,000 bond for his release.

Richard Thompson contacted me about this case last year. As a lawyer who is also director of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund, a nonprofit legal defense fund that helps police officers who get in trouble for doing their job, I found this case to be typical of many throughout the country. We assisted Richard Thompson with funds for his defense. 

Fortunately, justice prevailed and North Platte (Neb.) Judge John Murphy said that the “court can only conclude that (Thompson) was acting in self-defense in the situation that presented itself.”

Judge Murphy also said: “It appears to the court that this event has had a traumatic affect, not only on the family of the victim, but on the defendant, and perhaps upon the entire community of Crawford. It strikes the court that it has come time to put this tragedy into the past for all involved and to move on with their lives as best they can.”

The tragedy in my mind is that a policeman — and not just an ordinary cop but a Chief of Police — has had to suffer grievously through an unfair prosecution for doing his duty and defending himself. It was unfair because Chief Thompson had to make an instant decision to defend himself or be shot. He should not have been second-guessed by a prosecutor who reviewed the decision from the comfort of an office. And even with the acquittal of the criminal charges, his ordeal is not over. The family of the juvenile has filed a wrongful death civil suit in the U.S. District Court. The middle-aged Thompson, not a wealthy man, has had his life turned up-side-down.

Is it any wonder that crime is on the rise in cities nationwide when law enforcement officers are prosecuted for acting in self-defense while enforcing the law?

###

*David H. Martin is Executive Director of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund, headquartered in Arlington, Virginia.

By Brian Muth

If you have followed any of the news coverage of the riots in Greece you might ask yourself how it is that the police can not or will not take steps to control the violence that has consumed that Country for weeks now.  As a retired Police Officer I can give you a simple explanation.  The Police don’t know what to do.  The riots, reportedly started because of the shooting death of a teen-ager by police, have left the police little choice of weapons or tactics to quell the disturbances. Deadly force was used against a young offender who reportedly was attacking an officer with a bomb.  

Even after the fact that the officers involved were arrested and prosecuted on what appears to be a political move to convince the rioters to stop their behavior, the riots continue. The move didn’t work and might possibly have even encouraged the crowd to continue their control of the Cities, now knowing that the police will be much more cautious when using any type of force against them.

If you are safely sitting in your home in the United States you might think that this could never happen here and only occurs in other Countries.  You are flat wrong folks.  These things do happen here and our country might even be in the forefront of “political prosecutions of police officers”.  What our criminal justice system has found is that it might be better to sacrifice an officer following a use of force incident rather than to face the possibility of rioting and destruction of our cities.

Following the Rodney King incident in Los Angeles, many police officers have found themselves becoming defendants for using force against a suspect that they believed at the time was endangering their live or the live of someone else.

Prosecutors across the country are learning ways, possibility from our own Department of Justice, of prosecuting officers that do not require proof of malice and thus hoping to quite activists or critics of the police.  The United States Border Patrol is a perfect example of an agency that has had more than its share of prosecution of their officers, but many other states have followed their lead and have charged police officers with a crime  for using deadly force.  

Two white officers in Detroit were quickly convicted for the death of a black drug suspect, especially after the City leaders promised that they would be charged and convicted to prevent vocal critics from burning their city down.

In Nebraska, a Chief of Police found himself facing the business end of a gun held by a suspect in several burglaries.  The Chief fired to defend his own life but he too has now joined the ranks of law enforcement officers criminally charged for doing their job.

Georgia appears to be the State most willing to sacrifice an officer rather than to face criticism or reprisal.  Several Georgia officers have either faced charges or have charges pending after they used deadly force.  One officer is facing capital murder charges after he shot a suspect that he believed was trying to run over him with a vehicle.  Another Georgia case finds a former Marine turned police officer, facing charges for using deadly force on a fleeing felon. That suspect reportedly ignored orders to surrender and pointed an unknown object at the officer. 

EFFECTS RECRUITING

The climate of fear amongst the ranks of law enforcement officers has become apparent to me and was actually a factor in my deciding to retire. Unfortunately it is also effecting recruiting and retention of qualified officers.  In years past, recruits would come from “police families” with an officer carrying on a proud tradition of the job. Now, many officers either retired or reaching retirement age are discouraging their sons and daughters from joining the ranks.  If I had a dollar for every cop I heard try to convince their off spring to join the fire department rather than become a police officer, I could have retired much earlier.

Who in their right mind would want to be a Border Patrol agent at this time with all of the physical attacks on them and then later facing the possibility of arrest?

A few years back Congress passed a law allowing active and retired police officers to carry a firearm anywhere in the United States, a move that was not only to protect the officer from retaliation from former customers, but also to give the country another tool against terrorism and crimes.  This will be difficult for me to admit but I have been training myself to “not get involved” should I be faced with the decision to come to someone’s aid if an armed suspect attacks.  I am watching the sworn officers face prosecution for doing their sworn duties.   I do not trust the system to protect me if I likewise take action.  I am too old to go to prison. In other-words, I have earned the right to run with the rest of you.

WHAT’S THE ANSWER?

Until the recent financial crisis we face, Congress occupied its time by holding hearings on what baseball players were using drugs and later lied to them or how long a passenger was stranded on an airplane.  The number one crisis America faces in crime and if the men and women tasked with protecting us are afraid to defend themselves let alone a stranger, then what chance do we have?  Someone has to take a stand in this ridiculous new trend in holding police officers to an unreasonable standard and introduce legislation to protect an officer from “political prosecution”

About the Author

Bryan Muth is a retired Police Officer and author of the book “Judging the Police”.