Father of victim files lawsuit against police officer

Cassandra Thompson was walking across the street when struck by a police car.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The father of 16-year-old Cassandra Thompson, struck and killed by a Cortland police car this summer, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the officer who was driving.
The suit was filed Monday by William Dale Thompson of Kinsman against Patrol Officer Jason Smith, the Cortland Police Department and the city.
Cassandra was visiting with friends who live on South High Street on July 25; she had gone across the street about 11:30 p.m. and was returning when hit. Smith was responding at the time to a report of a fight in another part of town.
Thompson, administrator of his daughter's estate, is seeking at least 25,000 in damages. The lawsuit alleges that Smith had not turned on his siren or overhead lights and was speeding at the time of the accident.
The Trumbull County Prosecutor's Office said that the coroner's office found drugs, some of them illegal, in Cassandra's system when she died.
Smith could not be reached, and police Chief Gary Mink declined to comment. Smith was not charged with wrongdoing and has since reported back to duty. After the accident, he was on paid administrative leave.
The lawsuit was filed in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court by Attys. Lee J. Bell of Canton and William J. Urban Jr. of Warren.
The lawsuit says that state law gives the drivers of emergency vehicles the authority to speed when responding to an emergency call while displaying their overhead lights and siren. The complaint says that although Smith was traveling at high speed, he had not activated his pursuit lights or sounded the siren.
The question of whether the car's headlights were on is still under investigation, the lawsuit states. The complaint pointed to state law that requires all vehicles to display headlights between sunset and sunrise, and no exception is made for emergency vehicles.
The county prosecutor's office has said that laboratory tests by the Ohio State Highway Patrol showed that the low-beam headlights were hot at the time of impact.
"As a result of the reckless, willful or wanton conduct" of Smith, the cruiser struck Cassandra, causing her death, the complaint states.
Cassandra sometimes stayed with her grandmother in Johnston Township and sometimes at her father's Kinsman home.
yovich@vindy.com