COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Channel 2 Action News has exclusively obtained the case file of the officer-involved shooting that killed 25-year-old Nicholas Thomas.
Thomas was being served a warrant when police said he got into a white Maserati and attempted to leave his job.
Police said they feared for his life and that Thomas tried to run them over.
The deadly police shooting led to marches and protests.
A grand jury ruled late last week the March 24 shooting by a Smyrna police officer was justified.
[Timeline of the Nicholas Thomas case]
In an audio interview with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Officer Mark Cole, the K-9 officer who can be seen running in surveillance video of the incident, insisted it was a life or death situation.
Nicholas Thomas, in a customer's Maserati, drove back and forth behind the Goodyear Tire where he worked, trying to elude capture. His life ended when Smyrna Police Sgt. Kenneth Owens shot three times at the car.
In an interview with Cobb County homicide detectives, Owens insisted he had no choice.
“My officer didn't even have his gun out. He couldn't defend himself and I could tell that he was in a situation where he was definitely going to be hit,” Owens said. “It was bang bang. I (saw) the officer was in peril and could do nothing for himself. At that time is when I shot.
Crime scene photos from the 400-page report show Owens three bullet holes joined by three bean bag shots to the car, one of Owens bullets hit Thomas in the side, killing him.
Cole told the GBI he encountered Thomas the day before, driving on a suspended license. He learned Thomas had an outstanding arrest warrant in Clayton County for running from police and was on probation in Cobb County for a conviction for assaulting an officer that stemmed from a high-speed chase.
Thomas' family has spoken out since the shooting in defense of Thomas and against the deadly use of force. Two days after his death, Thomas' family called for an independent investigation into the shooting.
Prosecutors showed Channel 2's Ross Cavitt video viewed by jurors. The video shows Thomas heading out to a customer's Maserati as police showed up to arrest him on a traffic charge and outstanding arrest warrant.
A blurry shot from behind the Cumberland Goodyear Shop shows Thomas driving that car back and forth trying to evade police arrest.
As a K-9 approaches the car's path, Owens fired a single shot and hit Thomas.
The Grand Jury recommended no further action be taken in the case.
“The loss of life is unfortunate, and I sincerely sympathize with Mr. Thomas’s survivors. But when he drove the vehicle toward officers in the manner he did, the officer who fired the shots was justified under the law to use lethal force,” DA Reynolds said. “Police officers in Georgia are authorized to fire their weapons to protect themselves or others from immediate bodily harm. That is what happened in this case.”
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