James Thompson

Name:
Thompson, James Edward

Date of Booking:
05/31/2025

Reason(s) For Booking:
BATTERY

SIMPLE ASSAULT

SIMPLE ASSAULT

CRIMINAL TRESPASS

SIMPLE BATTERY

PUBLIC DRUNKENNESS

DISORDERLY CONDUCT

WILLFUL OBSTRUCTION OF LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS BY USE OF THREATS OR VIOLENCE – FELONY

Officer’s Narrative:
[Please note: The following is a direct transcription from the official initial incident report. The Georgia Gazette does not fix any spelling or grammatical errors that may exist. Any changes or redactions made by our staff are placed inside brackets. Some errors may exist. All subjects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The topics discussed may be sensitive to some readers. Discretion is advised.]

On May 31, 2025, I responded to the area of Ocean Boulevard and Mallery Street after being dispatched to a fight in progress.

Upon my arrival, I observed two men on the ground, engaged in a wrestling match. One of the men, James Thompson, had [VICTIM #1]’s arm in an armlock. Ofc Hames and I separated the two men. I took James over to my patrol vehicle. James had a tough time maintaining his balance and spoke with slurred speech. He had the smell of an alcoholic beverage emanating from his breath. I asked James what happened. James would not answer my question and changed the topic as I spoke to him James eventually told me he was minding his business and said, “A punk a*s bi*ch wanted to fight.” James then pointed behind me. I didn’t take my eyes off James because he was so agitated. James then talked about beating, “Some bi*ch”. James continued to speak, but was not making any sense. During this time, James yelled, “Here’s the difference bi*ch, I’ll whoop your a*s!” At this time Officer Lund who had arrived a few minutes before James began yelling; instructed me to arrest James.

James then yelled,” I’ll beat his and your a*s!” At this time, Officer Lund told James he was under arrest. Officer Lund and I both grabbed James’ hands and attempted to place them behind his back. Officer Hames ran to our location. The three of us assisted James to the ground. Officer Lund gave James verbal commands to place his hands behind his back, but James refused. We were able to get James handcuffed behind the back, and the cuffs were double locked. Once this was complete, James was searched for weapons and contraband. I found a small bag of a green leafy substance, which was believed to be marijuana, in James’s pocket. later on, I destroyed the substance I believed to be marijuana since James was not going to be charged with possession. I stomped the substance out in the parking lot of the substation, then poured liquid on it while being recorded on my Axon body camera. I also located two cell phones, a couple of vapes, and one hundred dollars in cash. s

At this time, I noticed James was bleeding above his right eye. James was not bleeding above his right eye before he began resisting arrest. James did have several abrasions on his knees and arms before he began resisting arrest. I also noticed that my body camera was on the ground next to James, realizing that my camera had been knocked off my person as James was resisting.

We soon got James on his feet. We escorted him to my patrol vehicle. I opened the rear passenger door of my patrol vehicle. Officer Lund instructed James to get in the back seat, James refused. Officer Lund placed James in the back seat. At this time, James refused to move and ended up wedged in between the cage and the floorboard of the back seat. I went to the rear driver side of my patrol vehicle and attempted to slide James further into the back seat. At this time police noticed James was grabbing a hold of the back seat making it hard to move him Police were able to make James release his grip from the back seat as I lifted him by his shoulders and Officer Lund lifted James by his waist. Once James was in the back seat of the patrol vehicle, I secured the doors.

A few minutes later, Squad #2 arrived on the scene and checked James along with the other parties involved in this incident. James, still intoxicated, did not appear to comprehend that he was talking to medical personnel. James instead started talking about his wife, who was not on scene. Medical personnel spoke to James. It was decided it would be best to transport him to the hospital for evaluation. I transported James to the Hospital for Jail. During the drive to the hospital, James was lying in my patrol vehicle on his back. Police were not able to secure him in a seat belt.

Once we arrived at the hospital, James was helped out of my patrol vehicle by Officer Rourke #179. Officer Rourke, along with Officer. Miller #133 escorted James into the hospital. James started yelling profanities as they walked with him.

James was escorted to a room in the Hospital ER, where he was yelling and being aggressive towards everyone (GCPD, Hospital staff, Hospital Security, and Hospital Police) in the room James was escorted to the bed in the hospital. James refused to get into bed. After a moment or two, James started to comply and got onto the bed. It’s important to note James’s emotions have been going from combative, aggressive, and confrontational to emotionally distraught from the time we left Parker’s til now. James tried several times to get up from the bed and had to be held down by several people. James was handcuffed to the bed by both wrists, on both sides of the bed, so that the hospital staff could evaluate his injuries. During this time, James was more hostile and aggressive to hospital security and GCPD Officers. At one point, James focused mainly on Officer Rourke in particular. During one barrage of aggression towards Officer Rourke, James, unprovoked, tried to kick Officer Rourke in the groin. Fortunately, James was still handcuffed to the bed was not able to kick Officer Rourke. I will note, during this, Ofc. Rourke was just standing there, not saying anything or doing anything to antagonize James.

Once James was cleared for the Jail, James became less aggressive towards me and other Officers. Once at the CDC, James was transferred to the custody of the jail for further processing. James’s chargers’ area is as follows:

*SIMPLE BATTERY OCGA 16-5-23
*BATTERY OCGA 16-5-23.1
*SIMPLE ASSULT X2 16-5-20
*CRIMINAL TRESPASS (PROPERTY DAMAGE) 16-7-21
*PUBLIC INTOXICATION OCGA 16-11-41
*DISORDERLY CONDUCT OCGA 16-11-39
*OBSTRUCTION WITH VIOLENCE 16-10-24(B)

[End of Narrative]