A former Capitol Police officer has been handed down a 21-month prison sentence following a guilty plea for the civil rights violation of a motorist in 2020. According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Thomas Smith, age 47, was convicted of engaging in a reckless pursuit that ended with a vehicular collision, leaving an individual injured, and then attempted to cover up the incident.
Smith’s actions on the night of June 20, 2020, violated multiple policies of the U.S. Capitol Police, including initiating a pursuit outside the Capitol grounds without supervisory approval and failing to use his emergency lights during the chase, which resulted in the crash at Wisconsin Avenue and M Street, Northwest, where the pursued motorcyclist was violently struck and left unconscious, Smith circled the victim and fled the scene without any attempt to provide help and in the hours afterward he changed out his cruiser and falsified records to avoid responsibility.
The court, presided over by U.S. District Court Judge Carl J. Nichols, also imposed 24 months of supervised release and 40 hours of community service on Smith, in addition to restitution totaling $4,455 to the victim. Expressing the gravity of the offense, U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves emphasized that police officers must be held accountable when they violate public trust, per the U.S. Attorney’s Office official statement, "Thomas Smith abused his position of trust by engaging in a dangerous pursuit that could have been deadly – and made matters worse by obstructing the investigation into the collision he caused."
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division also condemned the former officer's misconduct, stating, "This defendant recklessly pursued two motorcyclists, struck one of them with his car, left the victim unconscious on the asphalt, fled the scene and then switched out his cruiser and filed no report in an attempt to cover up his violent misconduct," underscoring the significance of such actions that violate civil rights and undermine the public’s trust in law enforcement, as detailed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
