John Crawford III
A video has just been released of Tasha Thomas, girlfriend of John Crawford III, the man who was shot dead in an Ohio Walmart, being treated aggressively and threatened with jail time by Ohio police.
The Guardian obtained and released the 94-minute police video recording showing 26-year-old Thomas being interviewed by detective Rodney Curd after she was taken from Walmart to the Beavercreek police department to be questioned.
Crawford was shot by officer Sean Williams, who was responding to a 911 caller who claimed Crawford was pointing a gun at people passing by.
Surveillance footage does not support that claim though, as it shows the 22-year-old picking up the BB rifle from a shelf, walking around the aisles swinging the gun at his side and talking on his phone with his ex-girlfriend and mother of his two children, LeeCee Johnson.
Curd immediately badgered Thomas about whether she and her boyfriend had criminal records, to which she could barely answer that they had some minor offenses including petty theft and traffic violations.
“You lie to me and you might be on your way to jail,” detective Rodney Curd tells Thomas in the video after, as she weeps waiting to find out if her boyfriend is alive or dead after being shot.
The detective then banged on the table between them and said, “Tell me where he got the gun from,” to which Thomas replied that Crawford had only been carrying a white plastic grocery bag when they got to the store.
The detective went on to question Thomas’ credibility, saying that she looked intoxicated.
“Have you been drinking?” he asked. “Drugs? Your eyes are kind of messed-up looking.”
After over an hour-and-a-half of hard questioning, police finally told Thomas that her boyfriend was dead.
“As a result of his actions, he is gone,” the detective told her harshly.
Thomas and Crawford will not be receiving any retribution for the murder or the emotional trauma caused by Ohio police because a grand jury decided in September that Williams will not face criminal charges.
