ATLANTA – Federal prosecutors will not seek criminal charges against the Smyrna officer who shot and killed Nicholas Thomas during a run-in with police in March 2015.
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia confirmed the office has "decided not to pursue the case."
"The Smyrna Police Department is satisfied this incident was thoroughly scrutinized, investigated, and evaluated by all levels of the justice system," said Smyrna Police David Lee in a statement released Friday. "We also continue to offer our heartfelt sympathy to the family of Nicholas Thomas during this period and hope that this decision brings closure for all those involved."
Family attorney Mawuli Davis said that, based on the outcome of investigations by the other agencies, he is not surprised the us attorney’s office will not file charges. But he says now is the time to make the focus of conversation about current laws and the failures within the system.
The decision by federal prosecutors follows last year's ruling by a Cobb County Grand Jury that the shooting by Smyrna Police Lt. Kenneth Owens was legally justified.
For more than a year, the Thomas family has been holding out hope that the FBI and federal prosecutors would take up the case against Owens.
11Alive spoke with Thomas’s mother, Felicia Thomas, by phone and she expressed her extreme disappointment with the decision.
She even broke down in tears but she said at the same time she's not surprised because she believes the system has failed the family on every level.
The family has also discussed plans to file a civil lawsuit against the Smyrna Police Department.
On March 24, 2015, Cobb County and Smyrna police arrived at the Goodyear Service Center on Cumberland Boulevard, where Thomas worked, to arrest him on a felony probation violation warrant.
Police said that when they showed up at the service center, Thomas jumped into the car, started to drive off and would not surrender.
Surveillance video showed Thomas in a customer's white Maserati, driving through the parking lot back and forth in forward and reverse in what police said was an attempt to flee.
At one point, the vehicle drove toward the responding officers. Lt. Kenneth Owens fatally shot Thomas during the incident.
In February, Owens was promoted from sergeant to the rank of lieutenant.
"It's kind of a totality of the criminal justice system which leaves so many families without a sense of closure," Attorney Davis said.
Davis is responding to the U.S. attorney's office decision not to file charges against Officer Owens for the shooting death of Thomas.
Now that nearly all angles to charge Owens criminally have been exhausted. Davis says it’s time to change the focus of conversation.
“It’s about raising public awareness about how these young people, families are all impacted when police are not held accountable in the same way as other citizens would be,” he said.
He says more consideration is needed when police operations are being planned
“We have to really get serious about looking back and how to address this in a way that is more humane,” he said. “That is more considerate that shows more compassion than what we have seen throughout this process.”
He said the department should have approached this case differently.
“Why make a misdemeanor appear to be a major felony with six officers called in and heightening a situation in a way that unfortunately Nick Thomas and a lot of young people will panic and he did panic,” Davis said.
The Smyrna Police Department released a statement on the findings that said, in part:
“The Smyrna Police Department is satisfied this incident was thoroughly scrutinized, investigated, and evaluated by all levels of the justice system.”
It goes on to say that “we continue to implore positive relationships with our community.”
“It’s a piece of paper that does not speak to the actions that have already been taken,” Davis said.
Davis said that the promotion of Owens from sergeant to lieutenant shows the department did not consider the Thomas family.
While other agencies had closed out their cases, the federal case against Owens was ongoing.
“I think to promote him while the federal investigation was still ongoing was not the right thing to do and was a slap in the face to this family,” Davis said. “How do any of those things give a community any sense of confidence that this is a fair, considerate and compassionate process?”
