Family of man who died after being shocked with Taser on I-25 sues Larimer Sheriff's deputy

The family of a man who was shocked with a Taser while trying to flee across Interstate 25 and died after being hit by an SUV has filed a lawsuit against the Larimer County deputy in the case.

The parents and estate of Brent Thompson, who was 28 at the time of his death, filed the suit Tuesday in Larimer County District Court against Larimer County Sheriff's Office Deputy Lorenzo Lujan.

In February 2023, Thompson was driving a vehicle stopped by Lujan for having expired license plates. Thompson, who also had expired registration and insurance and appeared to be under the influence, lied to Lujan about his identity and ultimately fled the vehicle, running down an embankment toward I-25 near the Mountain Vista exit. With Thompson running on the northbound lanes of the interstate, Lujan deployed a Taser toward Thompson, who fell and was hit by an oncoming car driving at highway speeds.

After the county's Critical Incident Response team conducted a five-month investigation, 8th Judicial District Attorney Gordon McLaughlin determined Lujan wasn't criminally liable but used poor judgment.

"We feel like Brent's death was avoidable," his mother, Karen Thompson, said in a Friday phone interview. "We feel the deputy from Larimer County was unnecessarily aggressive in his attempt to pursue my son onto a busy interstate with traffic traveling at 75 miles per hour."

"It's shattered all of our lives. We miss Brent, we love Brent. He was the light of our lives," she said.

The Thompson family is represented by attorneys at RM Rathod | Mohamedbhai. The lawsuit states that Lujan's decision to use the Taser on Thompson was "objectively unreasonable under the circumstances." It alleges:

• Lujan knew or should have known that deploying the Taser could foreseeably cause death or bodily injury to Thompson and to drivers on the interstate.

• Lujan's decision to use the Taser on a "heavily trafficked interstate at night," where the speed limit is 75 miles per hour, amounts to unreasonable physical and deadly force.

• There was no reason for Lujan to believe Thompson, being pursued for a nonviolent crime, posed a threat of harm to Lujan or others.

• Lujan knew Thompson's true identity and address, and therefore knew where he could find him and arrest him.

• Lujan knew a Taser shouldn't be used to apprehend a person whose only action is fleeing from a deputy attempting to make contact.

• Lujan’s conduct was "willful and wanton" and caused Thompson's death.

The lawsuit also alleges that Lujan didn't prioritize moving Thompson from the middle of the interstate to a safe place after he was hit by the SUV and instead searched and handcuffed him in the roadway, where he could have been struck again.

Blake Stacey, Thompson's brother, said the family will miss out on "the memories that were yet to be made and that we won't get the chance to make," including with Thompson's two nephews.

"He didn't deserve that, and our family didn't deserve this, and we want some justice," Stacey said.

Adding to the family's sorrow and grief is the lack of criminal charges, he said, and the sheriff's office's condoning the deputy's actions.

"It leaves you wanting some justice for Brent and Brent's life," Stacey said.

Karen Thompson said her son was "very kind, very loving, giving, thoughtful, smart, creative. He meant well, he gave back, he never took for himself."

Whatever project he was given, he would get it done, she said, whether it was plumbing, electric, computers, landscaping, building structures or painting.

Growing up, he attended schools in Loveland: Namaqua Elementary, Walt Clark Middle and Thompson Valley High School.

"He had a way about him that just invited warmth," Karen Thompson said.

The family seeks economic damages for medical and funeral expenses, along with the loss of financial benefits they could have received if their son had lived. It also seeks non-economic damages for grief, loss of companionship, impairment in quality of life, inconvenience, pain and suffering, and extreme emotional stress.

In a statement provided to the Coloradoan on Friday, Larimer County Sheriff John Feyen said the litigation doesn't change anything he has shared about the case previously.

"This incident has prompted discussions about the challenges and considerations when it comes to decision-making, especially in evolving incidents with many situational factors to consider," he said. "While it's crucial that we continue evaluating and adjusting as situations evolve, we also have to acknowledge that environmental and human factors (like recognition and reaction time) will have an effect. We frequently encounter unique and unpredictable situations, which is why we train deputies to use the information they have available in the moment and act based on the Safety Priorities. Safety Priorities are the national standard that define law enforcement decision-making, prioritizing victims, then bystanders, then first responders, and then suspects."

"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," Feyen said. "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."

Lujan still works at the sheriff's office, spokesperson Kate Kimble confirmed.

In a memo to Larimer County Sheriff John Feyen after the DA's investigation, McLaughlin said his role was to determine if criminal charges are warranted, not to determine if policy was violated or if there were things the deputy could have done differently.

He said criminal charges weren't warranted because Lujan's actions were not a “gross deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would exercise,” per state law.

McLaughlin said Lujan was justified in pursuing Thompson, despite the low-level crimes he was suspected of at the time, because Colorado law gives an officer authority and expects one to "arrest persons suspected of engaging in criminal behavior.”

McLaughlin said evidence supports that Lujan's intent was to take Thompson safely into custody before any vehicles came and to get Thompson out of the middle of the road. But he said "in retrospect it is clear he used poor, and ultimately tragic, judgment in deploying his Taser after Mr. Thompson was already in the traffic lanes of I-25," even though "the split-second decisions here were not formed with evil intent."

According to previous Coloradoan reporting, Feyen said the department's internal investigation determined Lujan's actions were within the agency's policies.

Thompson's family previously told the Coloradoan that the sheriff's office is unjustly shifting the blame for Thompson's death from their deputy onto Thompson.

In a video statement last year, Feyen said investigators found a firearm and drug paraphernalia in Thompson's car after he was killed, and the coroner's report found he had "fentanyl, methamphetamine and other illegal narcotics in his system at the time of his death."

He said Thompson's fentanyl use was a contributing factor in the case.

Feyen's video statement and edited body camera footage can be viewed on the Larimer County Sheriff's Office page on YouTube. This footage is graphic and may be upsetting to some viewers.

An unredacted version of the body camera footage was released by the attorney representing the Thompson family. This footage includes Thompson's death and may be upsetting to some viewers.

Previous reporting by Coloradoan reporter Sady Swanson is included in this story.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Family of Brent Thompson sues Larimer County Sheriff's Office deputy