“I should have stayed with him”: Cleveland Heights releases videos and recordings of police shooting

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Cleveland Heights police released more than two dozen bodycam videos late Friday showing the chaotic moments after officers shot and killed an 18-year-old man last month.

The city also released reports of interviews conducted by police officers after the shooting of Christian Thomas outside his Yellowstone Road home on Aug. 29. The trove of information obtained through a public records request did not include videos showing officers confronting or shooting Thomas.

The footage shows officers speaking with Thomas' father, Ferrel, who called police shortly before 10 p.m. to resolve a family dispute. His son had a gun on him and was lying with his finger on the trigger when officers arrived, police reports show.

The two men argued inside the home, and Christian Thomas fired at least one shot before officers ordered Ferrel Thomas to leave the house, police said. Later, his son also left the home and encountered three officers who fired up to nine shots, reports indicate.

“I should have stayed,” Ferrel Thomas said as he sat on the grass in front of his house after the incident. “I should have stayed inside with him.”

A police officer who spoke to the father said the officers “had no choice,” according to the video released by the city.

“He was alone in there,” said Ferrel Thomas. “I tried to calm him down.”

Stanley Jackson, an attorney for the Thomas family, said he received the videos and information before cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. He said the city has yet to completely transparent, despite promises made by the city's mayor, Kahlil Seren, this week.

“It’s clear they’re withholding information,” Jackson said.

He quoted the words of the city's police chief, Christopher Britton, who told reporters a few days after the shooting that he had seen clips of the officers' bodycam videos and did not realize that Christian Thomas had pointed a gun at them.

“Let's be honest: Whatever the police chief saw, we didn't see it,” Jackson said.

The police reports and videos indicate that Christian Thomas was under the influence of psilocybin mushrooms. They also show that police found fentanyl and mushrooms in the apartment.

Ferrel Thomas told officers his son was high and the argument stemmed from a bag of mushrooms the father found, according to the footage and a police report. He also said he told his son to move out of the house.

Ferrel Thomas said his son was agitated and believed a family member had died. He had the gun on him and refused to put it down, according to police reports and video.

According to the videos, officers arrived and ordered the father to leave the house and the son to come out and show his hands. Police reports said officers yelled at Christian Thomas to put his hands in the air. He later left the house with the gun, police said.

After the shooting, police found a pistol and an empty cartridge case.

When speaking to officers, Ferrel Thomas initially blamed the police, saying they had “murdered my son.”

When a family member later became angry at police officers over the shooting, Thomas said, “You didn't do it. He did it to himself,” according to a police report.

Jackson, the family's lawyer, denies this and says: “I don't know where they got that from.”

He said the city should release all videos of the incident.

“This is another example of how this department hides its activities to avoid accountability,” Jackson said.