Judge Billy Ray, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia (Photo: John Disney/ALM)

A federal judge has thrown out a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a 23-year-old mechanic who was shot and killed by a city of Smyrna police officer.

Nicholas Thomas died on March 24, 2015, after a highly publicized incident partially caught on security surveillance cameras and replayed on the internet. He left behind a baby daughter, her mother (his fiancee) and his grief-stricken parents—who appeared in a tearful video posted on YouTube. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the child, identified only as L.T., by her mother, Cajun Snorton, against Smyrna and city police Lt. Kenneth Owens.

Judge Billy Ray of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia granted the defense motion to dismiss Friday. On Monday, the family's lawyers filed a notice of appeal.

“We've already filed the appeal. That's all we need to say at this point,” plaintiffs attorney Craig T. Jones said by email Tuesday. He is working on the case with Zack Greenamyre of Mitchell & Shapiro.

Harvey Gray and Dianna Lee of Gray, Rust, St. Amand, Moffett & Brieske are defending the officer and the city of Smyrna.

“We are very pleased with Judge Ray's decision in this case,” Gray said. “We strongly believe that his order is entirely consistent with 11th Circuit precedent in deadly force cases and that it will be affirmed on appeal.”

According to court documents, the day he died, Thomas was at work on his job at a Goodyear store near Cumberland Mall in Cobb County. Six police officers showed up to arrest him. They had a warrant for probation violations from a Clayton County case. The officers had been told Thomas had been charged with obstruction and were instructed to be on the alert for resistance and possible violent tendencies.

Thomas saw them coming. At that moment, he was stepping outside to move a customer's Maserati around to the back of the garage for work. He got into the Maserati, put it in reverse, hit the gas and sped backward toward the officers. He went around a corner, then came back again. That's when Owens shot at the tinted windows of the car, according to Ray's order.

Ray said he analyzed video of the incident from four store surveillance cameras. The judge also heard oral arguments for nearly four hours on May 15, Gray said. The video showed the car speeding past the store repeatedly, as well as officers and a police dog running in pursuit.

“After consideration of oral arguments presented by counsel for the parties and based upon this Court's review of the entire record herein, it is the decision of this Court that the motions for summary judgment submitted on behalf of Defendants Owens and Smyrna are well founded and should be granted, thereby terminating the present action,” Ray said. “This Court concludes that Owens' use of deadly force under the circumstances presented on March 24, 2015, was objectively reasonable as a matter of law.”

Ray also tossed out a negligent hiring claim against the city of Smyrna based on an alleged 20-year-old criminal charge for domestic violence against Owens, the officer who shot Thomas. “This Court summarily rejects this claim on the merits,” Ray said in a footnote. “The record is undisputed that Owens' plea in a misdemeanor domestic violence action in 1999 was entered pursuant to Georgia's First Offender Act (O.C.G.A. § 42-8-60) for which he was sentenced to probation. The record is undisputed that Owens completed his probation, provided proof of the same to his probation officer and, hence, was never convicted of any crime.”

Ray also dispensed with an argument that Owens should not have been entrusted with a firearm.

“The record confirms beyond dispute that Owens was hired in 2001 by Smyrna as a law enforcement officer; that he has been and continues to be employed by Smyrna in this capacity; that he was formerly employed by Cobb County in a law enforcement capacity; that during his twenty-two year law enforcement career prior to the incident at issue herein, he had never before fired his weapon in the line of duty and there had never been any allegations or complaints against him by anyone alleging that he had used unlawful or excessive force,” Ray said, again in a footnote.

The shooting was not captured on video available, but something else not shown on the video played into the judge's decision.

“It is of significance that the off-ramp to I-285 East is located directly to the west of the Goodyear premises and was possibly accessible to Thomas by proceeding up a slight incline with his vehicle from the north side of the building,” Ray said. “The available video depicts a chaotic and dangerous series of events arising from Thomas' actual and threatened use of his vehicle as a deadly weapon, endangering the lives of the officers who were present, employees and customers of Goodyear, and the public at large if Thomas maneuvered his vehicle onto I-285 and escaped.”

Ray said one camera captured video of the Maserati when it first appears and then disappears around the corner. “The undisputed testimony in the record confirms that when Thomas turned east and rounded the NW corner, he encountered law enforcement officers on the north side of the premises, who surrounded the vehicle with guns drawn and provided multiple commands for Thomas to show his hands and exit the vehicle,” Ray said. “Thomas did not comply; instead, he put the vehicle in reverse.”

The video shows officers moving out of the way, the Maserati disappearing and then appearing again, and officers repeatedly ordering Thomas to stop, Ray said.

“Thomas' actions in this regard clearly constitute an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon such that, under applicable law, both officers were authorized to use deadly force against Thomas at that time, both to end the threat of injury to themselves and others present, and to protect the public by preventing Thomas' escape,” Ray said. “Under the circumstances presented, and consistent with Eleventh Circuit precedent, Owens' use of deadly force under the circumstances presented was justified based on an imminent threat of bodily harm to himself, … to the other officers, to the customers and employees of Goodyear on the premises, and to the public at large should Thomas have escaped. As such, Owens' use of deadly force was objectively reasonable as a matter of law and did not violate Thomas' rights under state or federal law.”

The case is L.T. v. Smyrna, No. 1:17-cv-01036-WMR.