Michael Thompson had broken no law when he entered a 7-Eleven convenience store and asked the clerk to call 911 on his behalf because he was suffering a mental episode.
But El Paso police arrived and killed the 36-year-old Black father of two children and U.S. Army veteran.
Now Thompson’s mother, Barbara Thompson, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against El Paso police and several other defendants, including Axon Enterprise, the company that sells Tasers to law enforcement agencies, marketing it as a “less than lethal” device.
The incident took place on June 27, 2022, as Thompson was walking down a public street after midnight in the direction of the 7-Eleven, walking past a 24-hour Walmart where an off-duty police officer from Texas Tech University was working security.
Although Thompson was not breaking any law, Texas Tech Police Officer Jesus Cobos decided to “stalk him,” making Thompson even more paranoid, according to the lawsuit filed in the 41st Judicial District Court in El Paso on June 27 — exactly two years after his death.
A Call for Help
On the night of his death, Thompson entered the 7-Eleven store and asked the clerk to call 911, and the clerk noticed he was experiencing visual and auditory hallucinations. The clerk’s call to dispatch was made at 12:50 a.m. and was described as a “welfare check.”
El Paso Police Officer Dominic Guerrero was the first to arrive on the scene rather than the medical personnel.
“You look like a thug, and you’re going to kill me,” Thompson told Guerrero after the officer had arrived.
Thompson responded by restraining Thompson, placing him in a prone position, and laying his full body weight on him. El Paso Police Officer John Spencer then arrived and began tasering Thompson as Guerrero laid on top of him, forcing his face on the ground, according to the lawsuit.
Once they had placed him into the back of the patrol car, Spencer continued shocking Thompson by holding the Taser directly against his body while the other cops, including Cobos, beat and choked him.
Several other El Paso police officers arrived and are listed on the lawsuit as defendants along with the three above-mentioned, including Thomas Sneed, Michael Arias, Alonzo Martinez and Aaron Johnston – who “joined in either holding Mr. Thompson down, or failing to intervene the unreasonable striking, choking and slamming Mr. Thompson to the ground, and taser causing the death of Michael Thompson.”
Eventually, Thompson stopped breathing while handcuffed in the back of the patrol car. Then, either the cops or paramedics administered him a dose of Narcan, which is only supposed to be used on people experiencing an opioid overdose.
Contradicting Autopsies
Two autopsy reports described his death as a homicide. However, the autopsy conducted by the El Paso County Medical Examiner’s Office blamed his death on high levels of methamphetamine in his system. But the lawsuit states it is an impossibility to die both from intoxication and homicide — the latter which is defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as the “killing of one human being by another.”
The second autopsy, paid for by the family and conducted by the Nebraska Institute of Forensic Science, determined the cause of death to be a result of “police restraint asphyxia, use of taser deployment(s), and multiple force blunt force trauma with complications.”
The lawsuit accuses the El Paso County Medical Examiner’s Office of conspiring with police to “distort the cause of death by implicating that Mr. Thompson died due to intoxication and homicide which is impossible.”
Delayed Response from Paramedics
The lawsuit states that paramedics from the El Paso Fire Department did not arrive on the scene until 1:11 a.m. — 21 minutes after the initial call to dispatch — and did not transport Thompson to the hospital until 1:36 a.m.
The hospital was only six miles away, an 11-minute drive during normal daylight traffic hours.
A doctor’s note stated the following:
Apparently, he had an altercation with police and was tased one time as well as hit in the leg four times with some other type of instrument it helps to do him. He apparently was handcuff and placed in the back of the police car. EMS was called in on arrival they saw the patient become unresponsive and apparently suffered a cardiopulmonary arrest after they arrived.
There was some question that the patient was given Narcan, but it was unclear exactly why or when or by whom it was given. On arrival to the emergency department patient was undergoing chest compressions with a mechanical assist device.
Custodial Death Report
The custodial death report filed by the Texas Attorney General’s office on June 28, 2022, lists the “type of offense” committed by Thompson as a “Medical/Mental Health Assistance call” and provides the following description from the perspective of police, acknowledging that paramedics arrived only after being called by police who had tasered him repeatedly.
On 06/27/2022 the El Paso Police Department Patrol Officers responded to 5830 Dyer (7-11) in El Paso Texas in reference to a welfare check. A subject(decedent) walked into the 7-11 and met with the clerk. The subject exhibited signs of mental distress and appeared to be experiencing visual and auditory hallucinations.
At the subject’s request the police were called by the clerk. The Patrol Officers met with the subject who continued to act erratic. It was determined that the subject met the requirements for an emergency detection order. The subject was resisted the Officers attempt to restrain him which led to the subject being tased. The subject was placed in handcuffs and placed in the backseat of a Patrol Unit.
Medical assistance was called for the subject due to the tasing. While medical services were present at the scene, the subject experienced a medical episode and stopped breathing. Medical services began life saving techniques and transported the subject to University Medical Center. The subject was pronounced dead at 0147hrs. by Dr. Patek.
The custodial death report also says Thompson “attempted to injure law enforcement personnel” but all evidence suggests he was only seeking medical help and was trying to avoid interacting with police who had no reasonable suspicion that he had committed a crime.
Officer Guerrero’s Statement
On June 29, 2022, two days after Thompson’s death, Guerrero provided a voluntary statement to investigators, explaining that he had come in contact with Thompson about 15 minutes before the incident, and he appeared perfectly normal.
The officer said Thompson told him he was walking home, and he simply advised Thompson to remain on the sidewalk and went on his way.
But then, 15 minutes later, he said Thompson “was not in the right state of mind as he had been earlier when I talked to him, and he was very paranoid and did not recognize me as a police officer, even though I was wearing my full blue police uniform with a EPPD badge and duty belt.”
Guerrero said Thompson was standing in the doorway of the 7-Eleven when he arrived and also provided the officer with his full name and date of birth.
But then he became paranoid and began walking away from the officer, telling the cop, “you look like a thug and you’re going to kill me.”
Guerrero said he tried to assure Thompson that he wanted to help him, not hurt him, but Thompson ended up dying anyway.
