Shocking video shows man being tased by cops before being fatally run over by SUV after fleeing traffic stop
Shocking body cam video captured the moment a Colorado cop tased a fleeing man after a traffic stop — who then fell across the lanes of a busy highway, where he was fatally struck by a passing SUV.
Deputy Lorenzo Lujan stopped Brent Allen Thompson, 28, about 9 p.m. Feb. 18 near a hotel off Interstate 25 in Larimer County when he noticed that his Ford Fusion had expired tags, 9 News reported.
But Thompson got onto northbound I-25 and Lujan followed him until the driver stopped near the Mountain Vista Drive exit, according to the outlet, which cited a letter by District Attorney Gordon McLaughlin.
Thompson, of Loveland, identified himself as “Jacob Jones,” but the deputy – who was joined by a partner at the scene — quickly discovered that he gave a fake name.
The driver insisted that he had not lied but bolted when told he was under arrest – running down an embankment toward the highway, the newly released video shows.
“Stop or you’re gonna get Tased! Stop!” Lujan shouts.
He then fires the weapn after Thompson jumps a guardrail and collapses along the road
“S—! S—!” the deputy exclaims as the oncoming SUV slams into Thompson. The video doesn’t show the moment of impact.
Lujan then handcuffed the moaning man and dragged him to the shoulder, where he and other deputies alternated performing CPR until paramedics arrived.
Thompson was rushed to the Medical Center of the Rockies, where he was pronounced dead, the Denver Post reported.
After an investigation, McLaughlin said no charges would be filed against Lujan – even though he was found to have failed to fully assess the imminent threat of traffic in his “clear lapse in judgment.”
“The deputy was forced to make a choice with no easy answer: act and try to stop the suspect … or stand by passively and simply hope no innocent people got hurt,” Larimer County Sheriff’s John Feyen said in a statement, 9 News reported.
“We train our deputies to keep the community safe by taking decisive action with the information they have available in the moment,” he said. “However, this profession doesn’t have the comfortable luxury of hindsight, and the tough reality is that unintended consequences can occur.”
Feyen said an internal investigation found that Lujan acted within department policy, but that it would use the “challenging case” in training.
Qusair Mohamedbhai and Siddhartha Rathod, the attorneys for Thompson’s family, released the video on Wednesday.
“No one in their right mind would tase someone on the highway. The public has a right to see this,” Rathod told the Denver Post, adding that the decision to not bring criminal charges against Lujan demonstrates “once again that the police cannot and will not police themselves.”
He described the incident as “negligent homicide.”
“At the time that Brent ran from law enforcement, he was only suspected of committing the crimes of driving with expired registration and giving a false name to law enforcement,” Rathod told the paper.
“The tasering of an individual in the middle of an interstate highway at night is criminal and reprehensible conduct and has no place in law enforcement,” he added.
Rathod said a civil rights lawsuit will be filed by the end of the year.
The Larimer County Sheriff’s Office did not return a message by the Denver Post seeking comment.
