Who was Brent Thompson? Colorado sheriff’s deputy tasers man on I-25, who is killed by SUV seconds later

A bodycam footage recently released, showed a Colorado deputy taser a man running onto an interstate seconds before the latter is hit and killed by an SUV.

The man in question was 28-year-old Brent Thompson. He was running on I-25 on February 18, according to body camera footage released on Wednesday. As Larimer County Sheriff’s deputy Lorenzo Lujan tasers Thompson, he says “S–t, s–t” about five seconds before the driver of an SUV hits Thompson.

Sheriff John Feyen said that his office has defended the deputy’s “decisive action” on the night of the incident even though they grieved Thompson’s death.

“Every incident provides an opportunity to reflect and grow as an agency, and this incident is no exception,” Feyen wrote. “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. We will continue to discuss this challenging case in training and internal conversations about dynamic decision-making, safety priorities, and the consequences of action or inaction.”

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Feyen said that an internal review of Lujan’s conduct found that he acted in accordance with the department’s policies.

“Unfortunately, Mr. Thompson’s choices created a potentially no-win situation,” the sheriff said. “Simply letting him run away could have resulted in deadly consequences for travelers on the highway and the deputy was forced to make a choice: act and try to stop the suspect or stand by passively and just hope no innocent people got hurt.”

The county’s district attorney, however, said last week that Lujan used poor judgment. Lujan has been cleared of criminal charges.

Who was Brent Thompson?

Thompson was suspected of faking his name to deputies after getting pulled over for expired registration, at about 9:15 p.m. After he informed that he is under arrest, Thompson pivots, runs across southbound lanes. In order to change lanes, he runs across a grassy median before jumping over a guardrail and onto northbound lanes. Lujan fires his Taser as Thompson crosses the right lane. Thompson collapses on the road.

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After a reconstruction of the scene, investigators found that Thompson was hit with the Taser probes 5.6 seconds before getting run over by the vehicle. After Thompson was struck, Lujan pulled Thompson to the side of the road, handcuffed him before providing CPR. The paramedics arrived at the scene and transported Thompson to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Thompson’s family has demanded immediate termination of Lujan. They have also urged the Colorado attorney general to review District Attorney Gordon McLaughlin’s decision not to press charges. “He didn’t deserve to be murdered like that,” Thompson’s mother told The Colorado Sun.