Family sues pair in death at Denny’s

Sheriff’s deputy, husband charged with murder in fatal altercation

The family of a man who died three days after a May 28 altercation in the parking lot of a Denny’s restaurant in Crosby has filed a lawsuit against a Harris County sheriff’s deputy and her husband, both of whom face murder charges in the death.

The family of 24-yearold John Hernandez on Monday filed the civil rights suit against 41-yearold Terry Thompson, who has been charged with murder, and Deputy Chauna Thompson, 45, who was charged as an accessory to murder, according to an email from Randall Kallinen, the Hernandez family’s attorney.

Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez has launched an internal affairs investigation probing eight other deputies for their handling of the choking death of Hernandez.

The altercation began after Terry Thompson pulled up at the restaurant with his children and saw Hernandez urinating in public, Gonzalez said.

Hernandez died three days after the altercation from strangulation and chest compressions, Harris County medical examiners later ruled.

In a video released by criminal offense attorney Jack Carroll, Hernandez spent his last conscious moments kicking, gasping and grunting as he tried to free himself out from a choke hold performed by Terry Thompson in the restaurant parking lot.

Scot Courtney, a defense attorney representing Terry Thompson, has said Hernandez initiated the late-night altercation by throwing, and landing, the first punch. He said Thompson did not intend to kill the man.

Prosecutors said Chauna Thompson was charged under the law of parties, a state law that allows every person who is involved in an intentional crime to be charged with the same offense.

Further details of the lawsuit will be released at a press conference scheduled for Tuesday morning.