“I kind of got a little aggressive with her I guess, with my interview ‘cause I thought there’s no way that this guy carried a gun in a store and she didn’t know about it,” Curd said.
The 20 minute interview between BCI detectives and Curd helps explain a 94-minute interview between Curd and Tasha Thomas, Crawford’s girlfriend, in which Curd suggests Thomas is lying, threatens to throw her in jail and asks if she is on drugs.
The longer video has made national news, with some criticizing Curd’s tactics.
“Frankly, I found the detective’s conduct outrageous,” said Tom Hagel, professor of law and criminal process at the University of Dayton, after watching the video Tuesday.
He said Curd clearly knew Crawford did not have a real firearm, and appeared to be trying to take advantage of Thomas’ vulnerable state to get her to justify the officer’s actions by saying he often carried a gun.
“I believe he didn’t have all the facts. But he had all the relevant facts. And that’s what makes it so outrageous that he put this woman through this,” he said.
Beavercreek officials did not return calls for comment on this story.
Curd, a 26-year veteran of the force who served as a detective for more than eight years, told BCI investigators he was called in on his day off and interviewed Thomas before he knew Crawford had picked up the BB gun from a store shelf.
In the Thomas interrogation video — also obtained from the Ohio Attorney General’s office — Thomas insists she didn’t know Crawford had a gun.
“I want to be very clear, OK?,” Curd responded. “That man got a weapon at some point, I understand, OK? That man produced that weapon. That man had the weapon when you picked him up. He had it in your car or something. You understand that we’re investigating a serious incident. You lie to me, and you might be on your way to jail, so I want to be very clear about that.”
She responded with sobs and insisting she knew nothing about a gun.
“I swear to God. I have kids. I have a job and a family. On everything I love…you can give me a lie detector test and everything,” she said, crying.
“On my dead brother’s grave, I swear to god I’m cooperating and everything cause I don’t know,” she said as Curd continued to press.
Curd finally directed Thomas to fill out a statement.
“If your statement to me is that you didn’t know he had a gun, and that’s the truth, that’s what I want you to put down,” he said. “But I’m going to be very clear, that later on if I find out otherwise, you’re going to have a problem.”
Curd at one point suggests Crawford’s ex-girlfriend was in the store and he had plans to shoot her, which Thomas also denied. He asked if Thomas was on drugs, saying her eyes were “messed up looking” and she seemed “lethargic”.
Finally at the end of the 94-minute interview – much of which was spent with her filling out a witness statement and forms consenting to searches of her car and phone – he brought in a victim support worker and offered to bring in Thomas’ mom before telling her Crawford had died.
“Unfortunately John has passed away as a result of this,” he said. “What happened there isn’t a good thing and as a result of his actions he is gone.”
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