Former Kenly Police Officer Jesse Craig Santifort pleaded guilty to assault after using a Taser multiple times on 37-year-old Alexander Warren Thompson, who died three days later after a police chase in North Carolina.
The incident happened on March 3, 2016. Santifort, then an officer with the Kenly Police Department, began chasing Thompson’s pickup truck near Kenly. The pursuit continued through Johnston and Wilson counties before ending when Thompson crashed near U.S. Highway 70 east of Smithfield.
According to WRAL, the chase began on U.S. Highway 301 near Lucama, reached speeds of about 100 miles per hour, and ended when Thompson’s pickup crashed into a fire hydrant near the intersection of Country Store Road and U.S. Highway 70 between Pine Level and Princeton.
Santifort initially reported that Thompson crashed, got out of the pickup, and ran before he deployed the Taser. He later told the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation that Thompson lunged at him and ignored commands to stop.
Witnesses contradicted that account. ABC11 reported that Johnston County District Attorney Susan Doyle told a judge that two eyewitnesses said Thompson never got out of the truck, never put his feet on the ground, and had both hands up when Santifort used the Taser.
Prosecutors said data from Santifort’s Taser showed he shocked Thompson four times for a total of 37 seconds in a one-minute period. The barbs struck Thompson in the chest. When another officer arrived, Thompson was not breathing and had no pulse.
CPR restored Thompson’s pulse, and he was taken to Wake Medical Center. He died three days later. JoCo Report reported that the autopsy classified the death as a homicide and said Thompson’s death was caused by lack of oxygen to the brain following conducted electrical weapon application, with acute methamphetamine intoxication and a heart condition also noted.
ABC11 reported that District Attorney Doyle said Thompson’s methamphetamine use and enlarged heart alone would not have killed him. Doyle told the judge that the medical examiner found Thompson “would not have died but for the Tasing” and that the Taser was the proximate cause of death.
The case also raised questions about Santifort’s credibility and continued police authority after the death. JoCo Report reported that Kenly Police Chief Josh Gibson initially cleared Santifort to return to duty after an internal investigation. Later, Town Manager Greg Dunham placed Santifort on desk duty, and he became a reserve officer.
In June 2016, the Johnston County District Attorney’s Office dismissed 27 traffic and criminal charges that Santifort had filed against 12 people. JoCo Report reported that Doyle said her office had reviewed Santifort’s personnel records and concluded prosecutors were ethically prohibited from calling him as a witness in any case.
On September 6, 2016, a Johnston County grand jury indicted Santifort for involuntary manslaughter in Thompson’s death. At a bond hearing, the judge refused to increase Santifort’s unsecured bond but stripped him of his arrest powers.
The criminal case did not go to trial on the manslaughter charge. On October 6, 2020, Santifort pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault. According to JoCo Report, he admitted assaulting Thompson by deploying the Taser into Thompson’s body when he was not legally authorized to do so.
Santifort received unsupervised probation and agreed to surrender his North Carolina law enforcement certification. ABC11 reported that the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys said the plea accomplished the two things most important to Thompson’s family: Santifort took responsibility and would be barred from acting as a law enforcement officer.
The final outcome was far less serious than the original charge. Alexander Thompson died after being shocked four times with a Taser while witnesses said he was still in his truck with both hands raised. Jesse Santifort was indicted for involuntary manslaughter, but the case ended with a misdemeanor assault plea, unsupervised probation, and loss of his police certification.
