Nebraska Chief Acquitted in Shooting Death

By the looks of his record, this tragedy started long before the day the Britton was shot. This was a clear cut case when it came to the officers involved. All officers and civilians should agree that an officer should not have to verify that the weapon pointed at them is or is not loaded. Although I understand that the loss of a child is painful for any parent, their son was obviously a criminal and pointed a gun at officers. Due to this, the family should have never even been allowed to bring this case forward. Even though the officers involved where justified, they will have to live with the fact they shot someone. I'm greatful they both went home safe to their families!

"Suspected of making threats against Thompson as well a high school principal and a student". Why hasn't anyone asked the parents how their 16 year old son came into possession of a pistol. Maybe the mother is feeling guilty that she did not raise her son properly. Too late now!

Suspected of numerous burglaries, bomb threat and threatening others. And when Thompson attempted to take Britton into custody, Britton pointed a pistol at him. Thompson and King were clearly justified in the use of lethal force against this little street terrorist.

I glad that bot Officers made it home that night and I hope that Britton's family will wake up and realize that Jesse made a fatal mistake and paid the price for his own stupidity.

Can someone tell me what kind of Prosecutor decided to bring this case forward?

And what type of GJ indicted these men?

What a backwards area that must be.

I work in NYC and its liberal here, and we dont get indicted for deadly force when deadly force is used against us or when guns are pointed at us.

Very odd this case as I read it.

I believe in the original story about this incident, it indicated the suspect was shot and on the ground when the Chief went up to him and shot him again. Of course the story is poorly written and forgets to give all the information. He was prosecuted because they felt the Chief did not need to shoot him again when he was down already and that it was basically an execution. This comment in the story is in reference to him being shot while on the ground "Both officers testified that the right arm of Britton was up and that he was pointing a gun at Thompson. The gun turned out to be unloaded." I am originally from this area and Crawford is a very small town in rural Nebraska. I'm sure the prosecutor felt pressure to bring the case to court and let it play out.

What kind of cracker jack court system is in Neb? Two cops are involved in a shooting and yet the court decides to only charge one? Is there a vendetta against Thompson? Why didn't his agency step up and defend him when the court decided to only charge one officer when both shot? It's just stupid. I hope that Thompson takes all of his back pay owed to him and then some and enjoys a nice retirement.

I agree that there must be something left out in the story, because to prosecute an officer for using deadly force when the suspect points a gun at you is outrageous. The public always looks at the situation over the next several months and years and says that the officer should have done this or that while an officer gets seconds to react. If as one comment said that the Chief walked over to the suspect and shot him again that might be questionable depending on what the circumstances were. This is hard to make a judgment without all of the facts.

Nebraska must have the dumbest ass humans on the face of the earth sitting on their grand juries! From reading this article the chief should've never even been indicted. I thought the jurors in California were liberal and anti-police, but my God the people of Lincoln County make the Ninth Circuit seem conservative by even indicting the Chief. Anyway, good to see the Chief prevailed in a court of law. As for the civil suit, maybe the dead kids mom needs to get therapy for all that denial she's living in...

Hmm, I've read all the posts and the general feeling I get is that you all think Nebraska, esp. western NE, is a horrible backwater place and we should all burn in hell for even daring to hold a LE responsible for his/her actions...Well as a daughter of a policeman who wanted to go into LE herself I can tell you that you all need to get some facts first. Not only about our area, but the backstory here. Part of the main reason this went as far as it did was one main reason. The youth was in a bar/building that was easily surrounded, all exits pretty easy to watch/guard. He wasn't going anywhere. He had asked to speak to his mother. The State Patrol negotiating team was in Chadron, not that far away by our standards, but far for you city LE. It was daylight and the SP would have been there way before dark. For some odd reason Thompson and the Game Warden decided to not call the SP or the youths mother. They then went inside.
Yes, the youth was troubled and had been in trouble. It was no secret even to those of us not in Crawford but in surrounding areas, that there was no love lost between the two. It has also been stated that Thompson was quick to judge and carry out 'punishments' to those he caught doing wrong. In my opinion that right there is a red flag. But of course I was raised that an LE needs to be held to a higher standard, which is why I had pride in my dad when he was a police officer and a jailer.
Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of blame to go around, but people cannot blindly support an LE simply because he/she is an LE! I've known many bad cops, I won't even call them police officers as that is a term of honor in our family, and my dad didn't support them just because they happened to be in the same proffesion! If they did wrong or acted wrong and got caught at it, then they deserve to be punished. His words to all 5 of us kids. But go on right ahead and call me a liar. Anyway, back to topic..
Many around here belive that Thompson should have called and waited for the SP to come and negotiate and then let the SP call the youths mother. He was too close to the situation and was on record as to his feelings about the youth in question, which is why he was called on the carpet for his actions that day. One such bit being that if he was so short of LE personnel that he had to call in a Game Warden to use as back-up then why didn't he call the SP in Chadron? I for one don't think that question was answered by him. I can only guess that he didn't want to either share the collar or didn't want to look 'bad' in the eyes of the SP. We'll never know and can only guess.
One thing I've learned since my dad was a policeman was that you cannot have a big city cop come into a small town and run it like a big city force. It won't work!! All the comments I've read here seem to come from big city LE and they are bringing the big city LE force mind set to a small town LE force mindset. The 2 won't meet. They can't.
In closing I want to say thanks for the insults to my area of Nebraska and also a HUGE thanks in my ultimate desicion to NOT go into LE. The replies here only serve to enforce my decision to not become an MP or go into LE. And I'll always be one to hold those in LE to a higher standard and be the first to make sure they act for the betterment of the whole communmity and not because they are or might be power mad with the position.
Peace

I am glad that these officers went home to their families that night. What I do find troubling is that they were even brought to trial to begin with. How on earth did that happen? Who decided to prosecute them to begin with?

Hmm, I've read all the posts and the general feeling I get is that you all think Nebraska, esp. western NE, is a horrible backwater place and we should all burn in hell for even daring to hold a LE responsible for his/her actions...Well as a daughter of a policeman who wanted to go into LE herself I can tell you that you all need to get some facts first. Not only about our area, but the backstory here. Part of the main reason this went as far as it did was one main reason. The youth was in a bar/building that was easily surrounded, all exits pretty easy to watch/guard. He wasn't going anywhere. He had asked to speak to his mother. The State Patrol negotiating team was in Chadron, not that far away by our standards, but far for you city LE. It was daylight and the SP would have been there way before dark. For some odd reason Thompson and the Game Warden decided to not call the SP or the youths mother. They then went inside.
Yes, the youth was troubled and had been in trouble. It was no secret even to those of us not in Crawford but in surrounding areas, that there was no love lost between the two. It has also been stated that Thompson was quick to judge and carry out 'punishments' to those he caught doing wrong. In my opinion that right there is a red flag. But of course I was raised that an LE needs to be held to a higher standard, which is why I had pride in my dad when he was a police officer and a jailer.
Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of blame to go around, but people cannot blindly support an LE simply because he/she is an LE! I've known many bad cops, I won't even call them police officers as that is a term of honor in our family, and my dad didn't support them just because they happened to be in the same proffesion! If they did wrong or acted wrong and got caught at it, then they deserve to be punished. His words to all 5 of us kids. But go on right ahead and call me a liar. Anyway, back to topic..
Many around here belive that Thompson should have called and waited for the SP to come and negotiate and then let the SP call the youths mother. He was too close to the situation and was on record as to his feelings about the youth in question, which is why he was called on the carpet for his actions that day. One such bit being that if he was so short of LE personnel that he had to call in a Game Warden to use as back-up then why didn't he call the SP in Chadron? I for one don't think that question was answered by him. I can only guess that he didn't want to either share the collar or didn't want to look 'bad' in the eyes of the SP. We'll never know and can only guess.
One thing I've learned since my dad was a policeman was that you cannot have a big city cop come into a small town and run it like a big city force. It won't work!! All the comments I've read here seem to come from big city LE and they are bringing the big city LE force mind set to a small town LE force mindset. The 2 won't meet. They can't.
In closing I want to say thanks for the insults to my area of Nebraska and also a HUGE thanks in my ultimate desicion to NOT go into LE. The replies here only serve to enforce my decision to not become an MP or go into LE. And I'll always be one to hold those in LE to a higher standard and be the first to make sure they act for the betterment of the whole communmity and not because they are or might be power mad with the position.
Peace