Destinee Thompson was supposed to be on her way to lunch with her stepmother in August 2021 when Colorado police, mistaking her for a robbery suspect, fatally shot the pregnant mother as she fled in her minivan.
Destinee Thompson was supposed to be on her way to lunch with her stepmother in August 2021 when Colorado police, mistaking her for a robbery suspect, fatally shot the pregnant mother as she fled in her minivan.
When I have an arrest warrant out against me, I contact the courts and figure out what I need to do to get the judge to withdraw it. Most likely, they just give me a court date. They might ask me to go to the courthouse and sign for service of a summons.
I do this, because I know that if I don’t do it on my own volition, I’m going to have cops and/or bounty hunters explaining the steps they had to take to arrest me, and that judge is then going to consider their testimony during my bail hearing. The more I run, evade, hide, or fight, the less likely I’ll be released on my own recognizance, and the higher my bail.
That’s the expectation in our society. We avail ourselves of the justice system. We demand that our case proceed out of the police station and into the courts as quickly as possible.
It’s rather dumb to try to run from the police, but arrest warrants aren’t issued by the police. You’ve got to be tragically stupid to try to run from a judge.
It’s only felony warrants that bounty hunters and cops really pursue. You aren’t being hunted for not showing up to court for a misdemeanor. Also, I have personally known people that have waited out their warrants. They seem to disappear in most states after about 7-10 years.
Whether police are actively searching for me or not is completely irrelevant. They might show up at my home at any time. They might show up at my workplace. Any contact with the police triggers almost certainly triggers arrest: Being pulled over at a traffic stop. Being involved in a vehicle collision. Being attacked by a criminal. Witnessing a crime. Kids get lost, can’t find their way home, and police return them. Neighbor complains about noise.
Or, as in this case, being mistaken for a suspect.
No, I’m not going to spend 7-10 years of my life looking over my shoulder to avoid a misdemeanor warrant that carries nothing more than a small fine or community service. No reasonable person would. That’s just stupid.
She would have been arrested after this stop, not for the crime they initially and reasonably suspected, but on the warrant. She knew that, even if they didn’t. She decided to mash on the accelerator of a 3000lb vehicle in the presence of officers on foot. She decided that endangering the lives and bodies of police officers was a reasonable and acceptable course of action. She decided that aggravated vehicular assault of police was preferable to paying a fine and performing some community service.
The expected standard of behavior is that she contact the court and clear up the warrant on her terms. She chose instead to ram a police cruiser and multiple officers with her car.
She was no Breonna Taylor. She was no Philando Castile. She had full control over the situation, and chose felonious acts of violence in an attempt to avoid the courts.
I can empathize with her position, but I have no sympathy.