Share this @internewscast.com

DENVER (AP) — Destinee Thompson was supposed to be on her way to lunch with her stepmother in August 2021 when Colorado police, mistaking her for a robbery suspect, fatally shot the pregnant mother as she fled in her minivan.

Frustrated by the district attorney’s decision last year not to charge the officers, Thompson’s family filed a wrongful death and excessive force lawsuit on Tuesday against five officers from the Denver suburb of Arvada who were present when she was killed.

“I want their badges,” said Francis Thompson, Destinee’s father. “She’s 5-foot tall, seven months pregnant. … You’re a grown man and you’re threatened by that? You don’t deserve to be able to wear a badge.”

They allege Destinee Thompson’s race — she’s part Hispanic and part Native American — played a role in her being targeted. Officers were looking for a suspect described as white or Hispanic.

“If this was a affluent white person getting into her vehicle, they would never have stopped her,” said Siddhartha Rathod, an attorney representing her family.

In a statement Wednesday, the Arvada Police Department said the family’s lawyer has mischaracterized the events surrounding Thompson’s death, and the agency plans to mount a vigorous legal defense.

Police spokesperson Dave Snelling said the officers were justified in using deadly force because they believed Thompson’s actions posed an imminent threat.

The episode took place on Aug. 17, 2021, when officers responded to a report of a woman who had stolen from a Target and brandished a knife at an employee. A witness followed the suspect to a nearby motel, where police arrived. Thompson was leaving that same motel to meet her stepmother, according to the lawsuit, which was first reported by The Denver Post.

While the description of the suspect included a white tank top — which Thompson was wearing — it also specified a chest tattoo, which Thompson did not have.

Officers noted that she didn’t exactly match the description but decided to stop her to rule her out, according to the lawsuit. Thompson kept walking when police asked her to stop, told them she wasn’t the person they were looking for, and said she didn’t have an ID to show them.

The police spokesperson said the officers had “reasonable suspicion” to believe Thompson may have been involved in the robbery and were therefore justified in contacting her.

Thompson’s family strongly disagrees.

“She’s done nothing wrong … and she is confronted by these policemen and doesn’t want to talk to them,” Rathod said. “You have the right not to talk to police.”

Thompson, sitting in her minivan and surrounded by five officers, locked the doors and refused to get out, repeating, “It wasn’t me,” the district attorney wrote in the 2022 letter explaining their decision not to charge the officers.

One officer smashed the passenger window with a baton, and Thompson backed the car up, hitting a police vehicle parked behind her. She then drove forward over the curb and onto the road.

One officer began shooting, according to the district attorney’s letter, because he believed another officer was struck by the car or being dragged under it, and eventually shot and killed Thompson. Her unborn child also died.

Thompson’s family alleges the officer who fired could see that the other officer hadn’t been hit or dragged by the car.

“Not a single one of the other officers thought it was necessary to shoot,” added Rathod in an interview. “This is a murder of a pregnant woman.”

Snelling, the police spokesperson, said the department stands behind its officers’ actions.

“Thompson unfortunately chose to engage in conduct that the officer reasonably believed posed an imminent threat to the life of another officer,” Snelling wrote. “He chose to use deadly force to stop that threat.”

Snelling added that the agency later discovered Thompson had warrants out for her arrest and the autopsy found illicit drugs in her system.

Rathod and Francis Thompson dismissed the police mention of those warrants, saying it doesn’t justify the officers’ actions and that police at the scene didn’t know about her background during the interaction.

“All they knew was this woman didn’t fit the description of the shoplifting suspect,” Rathod said.

For Francis Thompson, who described his daughter as eager to help others and quick with a laugh, it feels like the police department is using Destinee’s past to justify her death.

The grief hasn’t abated, he said. Every day there are moments when he cries, he said. “It’s hard for me to find a purpose in a lot of things anymore.”

___

Bedayn is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Share this @internewscast.com
You May Also Like

Actor to Challenge ‘Mathematical Formula’ of Nazi Salute in Court Case

Former television soap star Damien Richardson may question the “mathematical formula” of…

Father’s Urgent Quest: Is Ava Grace, 6-Year-Old TikTok Star, Missing?

Social media is buzzing with intrigue as conspiracy theories suggest that Ava…

Impostor Officer Allegedly Extorted $500 from Child’s Mother: Police Report

A man has been charged after allegedly impersonating a police officer and…

Breaking News: Hollywood Executive’s Son Accused of Murdering Family Found Dead in Jail Cell

A California man who was charged with murdering and dismembering his wife…

Melbourne 3D-Printed Gun Seizure Follows Tip-off

A man has been charged after dozens of guns, including 3D-printed weapons,…

A 7-Year-Old Autistic Child Had Passed Away Weeks Before Mom’s Boyfriend Falsely Claimed He Was Kidnapped

On Monday, Ohio police arrested a couple for the death of the…

Mexican National, 32, Arrested Following Birth by 17-Year-Old Girl

Staff report GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Heriberto Leonel Roblero Morales, aged 32, was…

Judge Dismisses Trump’s Interpretation of Executive Order

Left: U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead prior to his confirmation to the…

Father Sent to Jail After Daughter Gives Birth in Walmart Bathroom: Police Report

Inset: Jerry Lee Martinez (Kleberg County Jail). Background: The Walmart in Kingsville,…

A TikTok video featuring a drill sergeant wearing ‘MAGA’ gear prompts an investigation

Inset: The MAGA banner seen above soldiers’ heads in one of Staff…

Father Visits Teen Daughter in Jail Following Arrest for Allegedly Killing Mom and Stepdad

The father of a 17-year-old Georgia girl who allegedly killed her mother…

Man Purchased ‘Punisher’ Tee from Walmart Before Fatally Attacking His Father

Cooper Wesley in court on July 14, 2025 (KFSM). A 27-year-old man…