The family of a man who died after being tased by a Larimer County deputy and then run over on I-25 has won a $5 million settlement with the county.

Brent Thompson’s family told reporters Friday that despite the money they were awarded, they don’t feel that justice has been served.

“I miss my son. He was a good man with charisma and character,” said Thompson’s father, David. “There was no aggression, there was no threat. Just the actions of a deputy who made the wrong call.”

Through tears, Brent Thompson’s grandmother, Karen Thompson, said that the $5 million will not bring him back.

“Justice was not served. No one was disciplined, fired or held accountable,” she said.

Addressing the residents of Larimer County, she added, “This is coming out of your taxes.”

Larimer County Sheriff Deputy Lorenzo Lujan remains employed with the department with the patrol division, according to spokesperson Kate Kimble. He did not face criminal charges in Thompson’s death and an internal review of Lujan’s actions found that he did not violate the sheriff’s office’s policies.

In an emailed statement, Larimer County Sheriff John Feyen expressed grief over the loss that the Thompson family has suffered, adding that “multiple lives have been changed forever.”

He said officers routinely face “making split-second decisions in rapidly changing environments.”

“We will continue to use this incident as a case study for internal discussions about complex decision-making, dynamic situations, safety priorities, and the consequences of action or inaction,” he said.

A spokesperson for Larimer County sent a news release stating that after careful consideration, the award was “largely guided by the direction of the insurers involved” and that the settlement money will be provided by the insurers.

The Thompson family said that the 28-year-old’s civil rights were violated the night he was killed Feb. 18, 2023, when he was hit with a stun-gun blast and then collapsed on I-25, unable to move.

The claim accused Lujan of using excessive force when he used a stun-gun on Thompson as he was fleeing arrest.

Law enforcement body-cam video showed that he jumped a guardrail, stumbled into the northbound lanes of I-25 at Mountain View and was tased by Lujan, which left him stunned and unable to remove himself from the life-threatening position of being in the path of traffic for five seconds.

It was time enough for an unknowing SUV driver, going home to Wellington and traveling at least 75-miles-per hour, to hit and then run over Thompson. Though deputies pulled him off of the road and tried to revive him, he died of blunt force injuries to his torso.

In July 2023, a Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT) investigation found that while Lujan showed “poor judgment, and possibly a need for additional and more robust training,” his actions the night of Feb. 18, 2023, were not criminal.

In his decision letter, 8th Judicial District Attorney Gordon McLaughlin said that Lujan did not use deadly force when he used the stun gun and said that he “made a wrong decision, but not a criminal one.”

The autopsy report found that Thompson had an “extraordinarily high” level of fentanyl in his system. A friend who was interviewed said that Thompson took one pill and she gave him three more, according to the 36-page CIRT document.

Investigators found seven cellphones and a Sig Sauer 1911 handgun in the car Thompson was driving, which belonged to David Thompson. Brent Thompson was not allowed to have a gun, as he had a prior felony, according to the CIRT investigation.

“Any reasonable person, let alone a trained law enforcement officer, should have known that tasing someone on I-25 in the dark of night posed an extreme risk of death or serious injury,” the family’s attorneys, Rathod Mohamedbhai LLC said in a statement after the press conference.