A former Dolton police officer who was seen on bodycam video using a Taser on a 14-year-old boy with autism spoke exclusively with ABC7 Eyewitness News to dispute the department’s decision to fire him.
Avairus Thompson’s parents told the I-Team their son was returning home from the grocery store when a Dolton police officer mistook him for someone else and used a Taser on him in his own back yard.
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A Dolton police officer was caught on camera using a Taser on Avarius Thompson, who has autism, in a case of mistaken identity, his attorney said.
But former officer Leslie Johnson said he should not have been fired for the incident. He said he is the officer on the video and admits they got the wrong person. He said he feels terrible about what happened, but also said he should not have lost his job over the incident.
“At the time, I didn’t know he was a boy. And I didn’t know that he was disabled or autistic. I didn’t know any of those things at the time,” Johnson said. “But people have vilified me and made me out to look like a monster and I have been fired from my job just because of the way people view it and that hurts me.”