Andrew Thomas, the drunken driving suspect shot by a Paradise police officer on Nov. 26 has died at Enloe Medical Center, hospital officials confirmed Saturday. The shooting has garnered national headlines after Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey released dashcam video showing Officer Patrick Feaster firing at an unarmed Thomas following a rollover crash. Ramsey said on Dec. 10 that his office will not seek charges against Feaster after investigators found the shooting to be accidental. Ramsey said the shooting was likely negligent, but not criminal. He also said during the news conference that if Thomas had died, involuntary manslaughter would have been considered. Ramsey rehashed those sentiments Saturday night in a statement he made to Action News Now’s Debbie Cobb, “With Mr. Thomas’ unfortunate death we will now look to see if there is criminal negligence to go forth with a criminal charge of involuntary manslaughter. The theory of a criminal charge was not available without death.” According to Ramsey, in the past few days Thomas’ health started to decline and his lungs and organs began to fail. He passed away Saturday evening, and Ramsey said he was notified via text message from a member of Thomas’ family.

This is probably in the top 5 for most insane stories I’ve ever covered. The fact that a man had to die for Ramsey to charge Feaster with a crime is absolutely ridiculous. As I mentioned in my previous posts, while the police commonly hold people in jail, on some lesser charge, in order to buy time to find a more ‘fitting’ crime to charge them with. That’s not the case when it’s a police officer and more so, they find any excuse not to charge you.

If Ramsey believed this discharge of a firearm was anything but negligent from the start, he’ll get a chance to cover his ass now that it’s a murder. Yet, if I were the Thomas Family I wouldn’t feel too good about Ramsey being the man to fulfill my justice.

I’ll keep updating this story as it progresses.

Previous Stories about “Paradise DUI Shooting”:

UNEDITED VIDEO – Watch how Feaster spends more time looking for the casing to his ‘accidental’ discharge than helping the victims of the crash (or his shooting).