Kaitlin Riordan
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — New court documents show a settlement was reached in the lawsuit against three Knoxville police officers for the shooting death of a 17-year-old in a high school bathroom.
The family of Anthony Thompson Jr. claimed the officers failed to follow proper training and procedures and failed to provide him with appropriate medical care after shooting him in an Austin-East High School bathroom in April 2021.
The lawsuit was originally filed in 2022 against KPD officers Jonathon Clabough, Adam Willson, Stan Cash and Brian Baldwin, who responded to the scene.
Thompson’s mother, Chanada Robinson, and Thompson’s friend, Gralyn Strong, sought damages — including the cost of burial, for which Robinson took out a loan — and additional training for the Knoxville Police Department.
According to documents filed by the officers’ attorneys, the parties held a settlement conference on Jan. 7 where they “were able to resolve the Plaintiff’s 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claim for denial of medical care, which is the Plaintiff’s only remaining claim in this action.”
Court documents said there will be motions filed to dismiss that the court has to accept before the settlement is final.
“It is anticipated that the Plaintiff and the Defendants will soon file a stipulation of dismissal of this action with prejudice pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure,” documents said.
Clabough responded to the school with Officer Brian Baldwin and Lt. Stanley Cash after the mother of Thompson’s girlfriend filed a domestic violence complaint against him. She and her daughter said Thompson physically injured her earlier in the day at school, and it wasn’t the first time. The three met SRO Willson outside the school, who led them to the security office where they tried to locate Thompson on the school’s cameras.
During a confrontation with Knoxville police, Thompson’s gun went off and he was shot to death. Willson was also injured in the gunfire. The TBI’s firearms report confirmed two .45 caliber rounds had been fired from Clabough’s gun. One .45 caliber bullet was recovered from Thompson’s body and the other was recovered from Willson’s leg.
According to the Regional Forensic Center’s autopsy, Thompson was pronounced dead on the scene at 3:55 p.m. after school nurses reportedly tried to perform CPR, with the official cause of death listed as a gunshot wound to the torso.
When officers searched Thompson’s clear backpack, which he was still wearing, they found a smaller black bag inside. It contained a fully loaded gun magazine and other items.
In April 2021, Knox County District Attorney Charme Allen said Officer Jonathon Clabough was justified when he fired two shots at Thompson and he acted in his own self-defense and in the defense of the other officers.
A judge originally dismissed the lawsuit on Feb. 14, 2025. A portion of the suit…
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