Thread by @DrRJKavanagh

The Knoxville DA's office is declining to bring charges against the four police officers who killed 17-year-old Anthony Thompson on April 12, saying the shooting was justified.

She also released bodycam footage that shows the police officer who was injured in the incident was shot at by one of the other police officers.

All four cops were firing their guns and, she says, "mistakenly" believed that Anthony had shot that officer.

knoxnews.com/story/news/loc…

The DA's explanation for not charging the officers is basically that this was a "mistake." That's not good enough. A child was killed.

I don't know if Anthony had a gun. I do know from my work as a public defender that a teenager feeling they need to carry a gun for self preservation in certain neighborhoods is pretty common and not an indication that they're mixed up in anything else.

I also know from listening to the 911 calls in this case that the police had plenty of forewarning that Anthony might have had a gun.

So why would your strategy be to send four random police officers into a bathroom and pull him out of a stall and then just start shooting?

The complaint made by the mother of Anthony's girlfriend in this case was one of domestic violence, but she never said that he had threatened her daughter with a gun. She told the cops he had a gun when she was asked if he might have a weapon.

There was no suggestion that Anthony was about to shoot up the school (as I think has been suggested in some media). The police did not have to come to the school to arrest him at that moment. They almost set it up to be a stand off.

I attached a copy of an article that does not show the bodycam video. I did, however, watch it.

The DA says Anthony had his hands in his hoodie pockets, which also held his gun. One officer says he had his hand on the butt of the gun and that's why he started shooting.

We can't see any of that, so I guess we are left to take the officer's word.

It's also *interesting* that the DA took so long to release the bodycam video in this case, finally showed it to the family, who then requested she not immediately release it, but she decided then she was going to ignore that request and release it right away.

Like there is no compassion for the family. All about strategy.