The family of a mentally ill 27-year-old Compton, California man has filed a wrongful death lawsuit after he was mistaken for a carjacking suspect and shot by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies on July 28.
According to Los Angeles’ KABC ABC 7 News, Donnell Thompson was lying on his front lawn when officers approached him after neighbors called 911.
At the same time of the call, a carjacking suspect led Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies on a high-speed chase, fired at them and fled on foot into Thompson’s neighborhood.
During the search for the carjacking suspect, officers confronted Thompson. They assumed he was connected to the suspect and armed, but that was not the case.
Officers state that the man did not answer commands and that one of his hands was hidden from view. Investigators said Thompson stood up and “charged at the deputies” at one point.
Then a deputy fatally shot Thompson from an armored vehicle.
On Tuesday, Aug. 9, the sheriff’s office released a statement admitting to their wrongdoing.
“We have determined that there is no evidence that Mr. Thompson was in the carjacked vehicle, nor that he was involved in the assault on the deputies,” the statement said.
In the news clip, his sister Antoinette Brown says that Thompson was learning disabled and would not hurt a fly.
The officer involved has been placed on desk duty.
