A former Olathe police officer who shot and killed a man who was having a mental health crisis on New Year’s Eve in 2022 is now working for a police department in Washington state.
The Kent Police Department announced Officer Conner Thompson’s hiring on social media after he and four other new police and correctional officers were sworn in at a Kent City Council meeting on Jan. 21.
Kent, Washington, is a suburb of roughly 130,000 people in the Seattle-Tacoma metropolitan area.
Thompson, who left the Olathe Police Department in 2024, remains a defendant in an ongoing federal lawsuit stemming from the killing of 27-year-old Brandon Lynch.
In 2023, Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe declined to charge Thompson, his office finding the officer was “justified” in his use of deadly force against Lynch.
At the time of this story’s publication, the Kent Police Department had not responded to the Post’s request for comment.
However, in a story published last month by the Kent Reporter, Kent Police Chief Rafael Padilla said that Thompson had informed the department of the Olathe incident before they hired him.
Thompson worked for Olathe Police for five years
- Thompson started with the Olathe Police Department in July 2019, according to records the Post obtained from the Kansas Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards and Training.
- He held the rank of officer at the time of his departure from the department on July 15, 2024.
- The commission has no record of Thompson working for other Kansas police agencies before or after his time with Olathe.
- Per the Kent Police Department’s social media announcement, Thompson served as a patrol officer, a training officer and a member of the Honor Guard during his time with Olathe Police, as well as a cadet advisor.
- The Kent Reporter reported that Thompson was hired in Kent in September 2024.
Thompson fatally shot Lynch during a mental health crisis
- On Dec. 31, 2022, Lynch’s sister called 911 after 11 p.m. to report a physical altercation with her brother.
- He had a history of schizophrenia, about which the police department knew from previous interactions with Thompson.
- When police arrived on the scene, Lynch’s sister stepped outside the home.
- In an exchange that lasted less than three minutes, officers tried to use a taser on Lynch twice and ordered him to drop a knife he was holding, according to body camera footage that was released in spring 2023.
- According to DA Howe’s report of the case disclosed in a May 2023 press conference, Lynch took steps in the direction of the officers with his left arm, which held a knife, raised. Thompson shot him three times, killing him.
- Olathe Police reported that no mental health expert or co-responder was on the scene at the time.
Lawsuit says officers used ‘excessive force’
Lynch’s mother, Maria Varnas, filed a federal lawsuit against Thompson and the city of Olathe in spring 2024 alleging that the police’s actions “escalated” the situation with Lynch.
Those actions, in contradiction with crisis intervention training, “created” the situation where deadly force was used, resulting in Lynch’s death, according to the lawsuit.
Thompson’s use of “excessive force” and his failure to employ “non-life threatening methods to deescalate” were violations of Lynch’s Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights, the lawsuit says.
Also, the lawsuit accuses the police department of having a policy and custom of “excessive force,” even in cases where “it is not necessary and warranted” and “without regard for the legality of its use.”
Judge denied Thompson’s qualified immunity claim
Last fall, after the defendants tried to have the civil case dismissed, Judge Julie Robinson of the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kansas, ruled that Thompson is ineligible for qualified immunity — a legal doctrine that permits some government officials like police officers to avoid personal liability in some instances.
The judge also declined to dismiss the city as a defendant in the lawsuit, but she did dismiss one of the claims related to Thompson in his official capacity.
Judge Robinson’s ruling last year allowed the majority of the federal lawsuit to continue, setting up a possible trial for later in 2025.
Keep reading: Judge rules lawsuit against Olathe cop for fatal shooting can go ahead
