A police officer in Paradise, California, was not charged after shooting a drunk driving suspect in the neck in a bizarre incident, captured on dashboard camera, that a district attorney described as an accident. Shooting victim Andrew Thomas, 26, was allegedly intoxicated and had rolled his car, killing his 23-year-old wife, on Nov. 25 when officer Patrick Feaster approached the vehicle and shot Thomas for seemingly no reason:
Thomas was hospitalized shortly afterward and remains in stable condition. He will be charged with DUI manslaughter in his wife’s death.
Butte County district attorney Mike Ramsey says Feaster will not be charged because the shooting, which Ramsey described as “not justified but also not criminal,” was accidental. Though Thomas has a fairly long rap sheet, there does not appear to be any suggestion that Thomas was armed or even that Feaster thought he was armed.
