CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio — For the first time since his death at the hands of police, the family of Christian Alexander Tyson Thomas spoke publicly and is asking the City of Cleveland Heights to be as transparent as possible with their investigation.
What happened
On the evening of Aug. 29, Cleveland Heights Police responded to the 1300 block of Yellowstone Road for a report of a “disturbance” between a father and a son involving a handgun.
What the argument was about and the circumstances leading up to it are unknown at this time, but police were told Thomas was holding a gun with his finger on the trigger, and one shot had been fired inside the home before police arrival.
When police arrived on the scene, officers met with two females outside of the home who said Thomas was armed. Officers said they heard Thomas's father tell him repeatedly to take his finger off the trigger.
After “several minutes,” police said they heard what they described as a loud crash and a single shot fired within the home.
Cleveland Heights officers say Thomas exited the home holding a gun, Britton said. Outside the home, three officers fired their weapons and struck Thomas.
Calls for all police footage
Dozens of family members gathered outside of the Cleveland Heights Police Department to talk about Thomas.
“The thing that I know the most about my nephew that he knows God,” a family member said. “He knew God – was in his word. He's active in the church, and he loves his family."
Christian’s mother said he was a spelling bee champion who loved playing the saxophone. "I just want to say – that my Christian is a lovely boy and I will miss him," she said.
Local civil rights leaders, activists and the family’s attorney, Stanley Jackson, spoke during a Tuesday morning press conference and demanded the release of all of the body camera footage.
“It should do the model thing by being transparent and open and sharing information so that we can get to the truth and justice for Mr. Thomas," Jackson said.
Tuesday morning, some body camera footage had been released. In the footage, a family member told police that Christian had a gun.
The footage later showed an interaction between police and Christian’s father, Ferrel, in which police asked him to come out of the house and that they would speak to his son. Ferrel responded by saying he would not leave his son in the home.
“His last words as he leaves the house, ‘don't kill my son.’ As they as they make him leave the house, he says, ‘don't kill my son,’” Jackson said during the press conference.
Later on in the footage, an officer notices Thomas at the front door with a gun. He then walked back into the home.
At an Aug. 30 press conference, Britton said officers heard what they described as a loud crash and a single gunshot from inside the home, followed by gunshots from officers when they said Christian exited the home holding a gun.
"It sends a message that we, as African Americans, cannot, even in a model city, expect respect and constitutional policing,” Jackson said.
During the press conference with Cleveland Heights officials on Aug. 30, Cleveland Heights Police Chief Christopher Britton said in the body camera footage he reviewed, he “did not see” Christian holding or pointing a gun at officers.
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“He is a chief, so there is no other footage, or there should not be any other footage that would show anything contrary to what he would say," Jackson said.
City of Cleveland Heights responds
A few hours after the family spoke, Cleveland Heights Mayor Kahlil Seren held a press conference to address the calls for body-cam video and transparency.
Seren started by saying the city is trying to be “openly transparent” with the family while the Bureau of Criminal Investigation is conducting the investigation. He said he wanted to clarify the level of cooperation they are providing to BCI.
“I want to let people know with absolute certainty that all of the information that we had relevant to this incident was turned over to BCI; all of our footage, all of our evidence was turned over to BCI,” Seren said.
He said they are in the process of giving body camera footage to the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, which is investigating the shooting.
“We want to make sure that this is a completely above-board process,” Seren said.
Seren emphasized that he is working on getting the answers the family desires but wants to ensure that no body camera footage is mishandled. He said he arrived on the scene after the shooting and did not see the events leading up to or during it.
“I think it’s dangerous for me to have a real conclusion about what occurred from what I was able to see on that body camera footage,” Seren said.
He said the footage is not doctored; however, parts of the footage will need to be redacted for the public. Seren said more will be released, first to the family, then to the public.
The city has recently put together a first call program, a co-respondent model, which was adapted from Shaker Heights; however, Seren said he is unsure if that would have helped during this particular situation.
“I don’t know that in this particular circumstance, I don’t know that that would have been of assistance in this particular set of circumstances,” Seren said.
Seren said that one of the things that officers were expecting to do when arriving on the scene was to bring in a negotiator.
“I know that officers arrived on the scene and one of the things they were expecting to do in preparing for it was bringing in a negotiator to see if they could resolve this in a different way and the circumstances of the situation changed,” Seren said.
