Family sues Colorado deputy after man Tased, hit by vehicle

LARIMER COUNTY, Colo. — The parents of a man who was killed during an encounter with a Larimer County Sheriff’s Office deputy have filed a lawsuit against the officer, alleging excessive force.

The incident happened Feb. 18, 2023, on Interstate 25 near the Mountain Vista exit northeast of central Fort Collins. Video of the incident was released last year.

Deputy Lorenzo Lujan is seen on body camera video trying to chase down Brent Thompson as he runs away and jumps over a guardrail on Interstate 25. As Thompson enters the interstate, Lujan deploys his taser, striking Thompson, who falls to the ground in the middle of the highway.

Seconds later, the video shows a vehicle hitting Thompson, who was killed.

RELATED: Body camera footage shows man hit by SUV after deputy used Taser on him

“Maybe he shouldn’t have run from the police. He wasn’t hurting anyone. He didn’t threaten anyone. He wasn’t a hard criminal,” said Karen Thompson, Brent’s mother.

Karen and Dave Thompson are named as plaintiffs and representatives of Brent Thompson’s estate in a lawsuit they filed this week against Lujan. They are represented by Ciara Anderson of the Rathod Mohamedbhai law firm. 

“Mr. Thompson’s death was wholly avoidable,” the lawsuit reads. “Any reasonable person knows or should know that Tasing someone on I-25 in the dark of night is a death sentence.”

The Larimer County District Attorney’s Office said last year it would not file charges against Lujan, but in a letter said that Lujan showed “poor judgment and possibly a need for additional and more robust training, but not criminal culpability.”

RELATED: DA explains decision not to charge deputy who Tased man who was then hit, killed by car on I-25

The letter says Thompson was under the influence of fentanyl and gave Lujan a false name before he ran. The encounter began when Lujan noticed Thompson was driving with an expired license plate.

The Thompson family called the lack of charges a travesty of justice and said in an interview with 9NEWS they hope their lawsuit will bring a sense of justice for their son.

“But it just seems like such a simple decision for someone to make, to not Taser an individual in the middle of a road,
 Karen Thompson said. “So I’d like to see them be trained to not do that.”

9NEWS has reached out to the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office for comment. 

> Editor’s note: The raw body camera video below of the deputy using his Taser on a man who is hit by an SUV contains images that may be disturbing to some viewers:

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