Man who hanged himself in holding cell not depressed, witnesses say

A six-person coroner's jury ruled Monday night that Lawrence Adolph Thompson III took his own life by hanging himself to death inside a holding cell while in custody at the Cape Girardeau Police Department during the early morning hours of Sept. 9.

The coroner's inquest took place at the Cape Girardeau Common Pleas Courthouse, and Cape Girardeau County Coroner John Clifton presided over the hearing. The inquest was held because the death occurred while Thompson, 55, of Cape Girardeau was in police custody.

Cape Girardeau police officer James D. Ritter testified that he responded to a report of a car accident at Shamrock Court and Silver Springs Road to learn that a driver had struck a porch of a residence.

Thompson remained at the scene, but denied driving the suspect vehicle, a gray Chrysler. He told police he was a passenger, and that the woman driving had taken off, but Ritter described his speech as slurred and said there was strong odor of alcohol around him. Ritter testified he placed Thompson in custody after the man failed field sobriety tests and took him to the police department for processing.

Bruising on Thompson's arm indicated he had been the driver, but he continued to deny driving, though witnesses to the accident said he had been behind the wheel, Ritter testified.

If formal charges for driving while intoxicated had been filed, it would have been Thompson's sixth DWI, a felony punishable by time in prison.

At the police department, Ritter administered a breathalyzer test to Thompson, who blew a 0.184, more than the legal limit in Missouri.

Thompson answered a series of questions and said that he had never attempted suicide and wasn't having depressing thoughts. He was processed and placed in the holding cell. Activity in the station meant that officers would have been crossing in front of the holding cell frequently all night, a patrol officer testified.

An officer last saw Thompson alive in the holding cell, asleep on the wooden bench, at 3:50 a.m.

At 4:28 a.m., another officer was on his way to the restroom when he passed Thompson's cell. At first, he thought the man was standing up, then realized he was hanging from his own belt, which he'd tied to a ceiling grate.

Dr. Michael Zaricor, a medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Thompson, said he saw no injuries to indicate any signs of a scuffle, and that the results of the examination were consistent with hanging.

Missouri State Highway Patrol Criminal investigator Don Windham testified he reviewed all of the surveillance tapes and a recorded interview at the station that Ritter had done with Thompson.

He said during the booking process, he noticed Thompson smiling and talking. Only when Ritter asked him about his wife did he display a hint of sadness, Windham said.

"It was not a deep, dark depression that an officer would have picked up on," Windham said.

The coroner's jury deliberated for less than 10 minutes before deciding that Thompson had died by manner of suicide.

Watch a video of the inquest on Thompson's suicide

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