Lafayette Police Chief Jim Craft says what happened to 22 year old Morris Thomas, an active duty member of the United States Army stationed at Fort Bragg North Carolina, is his own fault.
Thomas had been in a fight earlier inside Karma that left his opponent with a cut over his eye. According to the arrest affidavit officers were intent on taking Thomas into custody for that when they claim Thomas began yelling at them and then according to officer Joel Grayson as Grayson reached out to grab the young man’s arm he punched Grayson twice in the face.
Morris Thomas
At that point Grayson says he punched Thomas and then the second officer Thadeus Sices began punching Thomas as well.
But District Attorney Mike Harson who viewed the video for the first time on Monday says he saw no signs Thomas made any aggressive moves to warrant such a violent reaction from police. And more to the point, what Grayson claims happened is not consistent with what appears on the video tape.
Not only does the tape show no sign of Thomas throwing any punches at Grayson it appears to show officer Sices and not officer Grayson threw the first punch.
Grayson appears to begin punching only after Sices has already struck Thomas at least twice. Thomas’s sister Morkaysha Joseph was there when police began moving her brother to a police car.
Eyewitness news reached Thomas by phone from his base at Fort Bragg. Thomas denies throwing any punches and says he was knocked unconscious by police.
As for the FBI investigation Craft claims he asked for Thomas, his sister and the rest of the family say they have never been contacted by anyone with the FBI in the two years since the fight.
Chief Craft says Thomas was mailed a complaint form by the internal affairs department and that he never filed any formal complaint.
Thomas confirmed he did receive the form. But, by then Thomas said he had already vowed never to return to Louisiana and said he just wanted to put the incident behind him.
Whether he changes his mind now that the incident has been made public remains to be seen. Lafayette Police insist anyone who implies this matter was not properly handled by Lafayette police is incorrect and irresponsible.
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