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Vol. 79/No. 26 July 27, 2015
Family protests no charges
in killing by Georgia cop
BY JANICE LYNN
ATLANTA — “I will never stop until we get justice,” Triston “TJ” Thomas
told a packed press conference July 10 at the Davis Bozeman law firm.
Thomas was responding to a Cobb County grand jury decision a day earlier
to not indict Smyrna police officer Kenneth Owens for killing his
brother Nicholas March 24.
Nicholas Thomas, a 23-year-old African-American mechanic, was at work at
a Goodyear tire shop when he was shot in the back while driving a
customer’s Maserati.
Five Smyrna and Cobb cops, along with a police dog, were attempting to
serve him with a warrant for a misdemeanor probation violation. “Thomas
was not trying to hit an officer,” attorney Mawuli Davis said. “The
video shows he was driving past them and not veering at them.”
Initially police told the press that Owens fired in self-defense. After
an autopsy report released in June confirmed Thomas was shot in the
back, the cop said he was protecting a fellow officer, not himself.
Felicia Thomas decried the fact that she found out about the grand jury
decision through the media, the same way she learned of her son’s death.
“They didn’t even have the decency to inform us,” she said.
“I’m not really surprised,” she continued. “The Confederate flag still
hangs at Stone Mountain,” a local park that by state law is preserved as
a Confederate memorial. “But I have my armor on and I’m ready to go to
war.”
“TJ Thomas has been going around the country supporting other families
who have been victims of police violence,” Davis told the press. He
stressed the importance of continued community support, pointing out
that 500 people had rallied March 31 to protest the police killing,
among other marches and demonstrations over the past months.
The family is requesting to see the evidence that was presented to the
grand jury, which has been denied to them, and said they anticipate a
civil lawsuit. “I want another march,” TJ Thomas said.
Related articles:
‘Removal of Confederate battle flag is victory for working class’
‘Now take down the monuments to enforcers of white supremacy!’
How Black struggle has strengthened working class
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