The mother of a Smyrna man shot dead while attempting to flee arrest said she doesn't expect the officer who fired the fatal bullets will be charged in her son's death.
“We get no justice,” Felicia Thomas said following a meeting with the GBI, which has completed its investigation of the March 24 shooting of Nicholas Thomas. “The police are investigating the police.”
Smyrna police were attempting to arrest Thomas at the Cumberland Parkway Goodyear for a probation violation warrant. Police say Thomas tried to run over officers in a customer’s Maserati rather than submit to arrest and say Sgt. Kenneth Owens shot the 23-year-old in self-defense.
Prosecutors will present the case to a grand jury, which will decide whether the officer was justified in deploying lethal force, said Cobb County District Attorney Vic Reynolds.
Felicia Thomas said she has no faith in Reynolds, who angered the family when he refused to let them view videotape footage of the shooting.
“It’s unacceptable that we are met with this kind of resistance and lack of transparency facilitated by an elected official,” said Mawuli Davis, attorney for the Thomas family. “It shows a lack of respect for the family of Nick Thomas.”
Reynolds said he would release the videotape, and the entire case file, once the case is complete.
“If there is no indictment brought in this case we will release everything to anyone who is interested,” Reynolds said. “But I’m not going to release evidence to the public when there’s still an ongoing investigation.”
The Thomases successfully lobbied for the GBI's involvement, arguing Cobb police should not lead the probe since they were involved in serving the warrant on their son. But she said she was disappointed with the their investigation, alleging they just parroted Cobb's findings.
Davis said the GBI did confirm that Owens was the only officer on the scene to fire his gun.
“Of all the officers who were there, only one officer felt his life was threatened,” said Davis, noting the bullets were fired in the side of the Maserati, as it passed the officers by.
Reynolds said he expects the case will be presented to a grand jury by the end of July.
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