Date | August 7, 2020 |
---|---|
Location | Screven County, Georgia, US |
Coordinates | 32°37′06″N 81°39′41″W / 32.618349°N 81.661500°W [1] |
Suspects | Jacob Gordon Thompson |
Charges | Felony murder, aggravated assault |
On August 7, 2020, Julian Edward Roosevelt Lewis, an unarmed 60-year-old Black American carpenter, was fatally shot by white Georgia State Patrol officer Jacob Gordon Thompson, on a rural road in Screven County, Georgia. Thompson attempted to stop Lewis for driving a vehicle with a broken tail light. When Lewis failed to stop, Thompson performed a PIT maneuver to force Lewis's car into a ditch and shot Lewis once in the face. On August 14, Thompson was charged with felony murder. [2]
Lewis was a 60-year-old Black semi-retired carpenter [3] [4] [5] from Sylvania, Georgia. [6]
Thompson, who is white, was 27 years old at the time of the shooting. [3] [4] [5] [1] He joined the Georgia State Police on July 28, 2013. [5]
According to a Georgia State Patrol (GSP) report, around 9 p.m. on Friday, August 7, 2020, Thompson attempted to stop Lewis's Nissan Sentra for a broken taillight on Stoney Pond Road near Sylvania, Georgia, in a rural part of Screven County about 60 miles northwest of Savannah. [3] [4] [5] [1] According to a Lewis family attorney, Lewis had gone to a convenience store to buy a grape soda for his wife and was on his way home at the time. [1] Lewis did not stop and Thompson briefly chased Lewis down several rural roads. [3] [4] [5] [1] Thompson forced Lewis's car to stop in a ditch [3] [1] using a "precision intervention technique" or " PIT maneuver". [4] [5]
According to Thompson's report of the incident, after Lewis's vehicle stopped, Thompson pulled up alongside and drew his handgun as he exited. [5] [1] Lewis revved his car's engine and Thompson activated the light on his gun. [5] Thompson saw Lewis with both hands on the steering wheel, [1] "wrenching the steering wheel in an aggressive back-and-forth manner towards me and my patrol vehicle." [5] Thompson wrote that Lewis "was trying to use his vehicle to injure me" and that, "Being in fear for my life and safety, I discharged my weapon once." [5] According to prosecutors, Thompson fired one shot "at some point", striking Lewis in the face and killing him. [3] [4] According to an attorney for Lewis's family, Thompson shot Lewis "almost immediately" after the PIT maneuver. [3]
Thompson reported that he unsuccessfully tried to help Lewis after shooting him. [5] Lewis was pronounced dead at the scene. [4] [1] Thompson was not injured. [3]
According to their attorney, Lewis's family did not learn about his whereabouts or death until around 1 a.m. the next day. [1]
Thompson was fired, arrested, and charged with felony murder and aggravated assault on August 14, 2020. [3] [4] [5] [1] He was booked into Screven County Jail. [4]
An autopsy of Lewis's body is being conducted by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. [4]
The case went to a grand jury and on June 28, 2021, the case was judged a “no bill” and all charges against Thompson were dropped. [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]
A candlelight vigil was held for Lewis on August 14 in front of Sylvania City Hall [4] [5] with funeral services held the following day. [1]
According to the Associated Press, Thompson "was charged amid a national outcry over racial injustice" after the recent murders of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery, and the killing of Rayshard Brooks at the hands of police. [3] Lewis's family attorney described the decision to fire and arrest Thompson only a week after Lewis's death as a surprise, which he believed was a direct result of protests surrounding the police murder of Floyd and killing of Breonna Taylor earlier in 2020. [1] The Georgia NAACP described the killing as "a case of racial profiling". [3]
The State of Georgia paid $4.8 million dollars to the widow and survivors of Mr. Lewis to resolve the civil rights claims. The settlement is the largest civil rights settlement paid by the State of Georgia.[ citation needed] The Atlanta, Georgia law firm Hall & Lampros, LLP represented Mr. Lewis's family.