Posted on 01/21/2025 10:49:53 AM PST by xxqqzz
DENVER — The family of a pregnant woman whom police in Arvada, Colorado, shot and killed after they mistook her for a shoplifter has reached a $2 million settlement with the city, officials said Tuesday.
Destinee Thompson, a mother of three from Denver, was killed on Aug. 17, 2021, as she tried to drive away from officers who had surrounded her car as she was leaving an Arvada motel.
The lawsuit filed by Thompson's family was settled in July and the settlement was announced this week, said Dave Snelling, a spokesman for the Arvada Police Department.
The shooting occurred as officers were searching for a Latina who had brandished a knife while she was stealing a cart full of merchandise from a Target store, according to the lawsuit filed in Denver County District Court.
The actual suspect, who also had stolen items from the store two days previously, had a chest tattoo and was wearing a white tank top, and she was believed to have gone to the motel, the lawsuit said.
Thompson, who was wearing a white tank top but did not have a chest tattoo, was leaving the motel to eat lunch as officers arrived, it said.
After Thompson got into her minivan, she was blocked in by a police vehicle and officers surrounded her, yelling and eventually shattering a passenger window, the lawsuit said.
Thompson was scared and tried to back out of the parking space before she drove over the curb and toward the road without posing a risk to officers, it said.
She drove about 25 yards before Arvada Police Officer Anthony Benallo fired eight shots, one of which killed Thompson and her unborn child, the suit said.
Neither Benallo nor the family's attorney, Siddhartha Rathod, could be reached for comment.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
It’s pretty hard to justify that one, boys.
when you resist arrest you risk dying, it is always that simple. I have no idea why people cant grasp this simple concept.
Right. Why not disable the car?
It was her Destineeeee
“It’s pretty hard to justify that one, boys.”
Agree. Other than the tattoos, she certainly doesn’t look like a shoplifter.
Some people, especially people with little logic and less IQ respond with basic fear responses of flight or fright instead of measured thoughtful and calm responses.
My question is why they use shock and awe techniques on a pregnant woman they think is probably not the suspect, but just want to check to be sure.
Is the loss of life and insult to our constitutional rights worth it. Was the community made safer?
If the cars are unmarked, how is one supposed to distinguish a police action from an attempted kidnapping?
They shot a SHOP LIFTER?? And she wasn’t even the culprit? Where are they scraping up these cops from?
She was attacked by armed men in plain clothes and cars claiming to be cops.
What would you do? I would resist, knowing I did not break the law, assuming them to be criminals.
These were UNMARKED cars. She had every right to assume they were nothing but thugs. If she had run over 2 or three of them on the way out, I would have said "good driving".
If they want to make an arrest they need to send marked cars and uniformed officers.
Don’t be such a DA simpleton pls ..
so in your super ignorant opinion, it is legitimate for LEOs to kill someone LEAVING, not THREATENING, for disobedience?!!!
When you resist carjackers in unmarked cars, then what, TexasFreeper2009?
Earning the hate ...
This stuff ends when public servants are held PERSONALLY accountable for their actions.
Here's the real reason she tried to get away:
"Thompson, who had two open warrants for her arrest in other matters, ran across the parking lot toward her van..."
I cannot find information about the warrants. (Can anyone else?) Of course, the officers didn't know about those warrants because she refused to show them an I.D.
The DP article also says:
- An autopsy found fentanyl and meth in her system.
- The officer shot her because he thought she ran over another officer, but that other officer was standing right in front of him.
Multiple things can be true at the same time: The officer should not have shot a pregnant woman AND she shouldn't have been using drugs and running away from police. The baby was seven months along.
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