Letter from Sammy's best friend to Community
This man, Sammy Thompson, is my second cousin. I loved him very much since we grew up close. Our family has not had much contact with him since he moved to Arkansas, and this was a complete shock to learn this through the news! This is a letter that Sammy's best friend wrote to the community there in Clinton. I thought you all might like to read it also. It will help you understand the situation a little more. I loved Sammy and my whole family is very shook up over this loss. But God is helping us with the special comfort that only He can give. Please remember all of Sammy's family in your thoughts and prayers, especially his wife, children, and father. By the way, if anyone can help me, I'm trying to find his obituary online. All I've found so far is 2 different articles on the incident (although posted on MANY sites!) Thanks for the help and prayers...
March 12th, 2006
Dear Editor,
The Thompson Family would like to publish an article to thank the community for the outpouring of love and compassion after the death of Mr. Sammy Thompson. He passed away on March 5th 2006 from an inflicted gunshot wound. The family would like to reach out toward the community and share their thoughts with them. The family also felt the desire to share several important facts relating to Sammy’s death because the local news became a national news, reaching many deaf readers. There seem to be some degree of outrage and confusion as to what really happened and why it was necessary for the deputy to kill instead of injuring a deaf individual, especially when the quality of communication were obviously poor. The family realize that such issue is extremely sensitive therefore they wish to seek a closure based on facts. More importantly the family feels this way because Sammy has always believed in the importance of integrity.
To make a long story short, without leaving out important facts the family wish to say that Sammy suffered from multiple health problems including but not limited to liver failure, troubled heart, brain disorder, and alcoholic addictions. More recently he was diagnosed with severe case of gout. Apparently the combination of disappointing news regarding his health in the recent months were enough to cause major problems for him. Recently he experienced a panic attack for the first time due to depression. He began to seek professional help and received medication needs for his depression and health problems. He took medicines for two months however it seem to work against him and his body, we suspect because he was consuming alcoholic beverages at the same time. Shortly afterwards Sammy began to act out and develop a series of emotional outbursts, which he could not explain after the side-effect wears out. Each time he would become even more discouraged and find himself on his knees bursting out with tears in his eyes and asked for forgiveness from his family. For some reason the whole ordeal went beyond him and his ability to comprehend. He continued to struggle and the more he tried to do something about it the more depressed he became. Ultimately he managed to keep the problem to himself and has refused to seek professional help for the fear he would end up being locked up some where away from his family and his home. However that’s when he started to open up and confided into few of his trusted friends, that of his wife, his father and his very good friend, me. He made sure that we were aware of his problem and advised us of dangers associated with his drinking patterns and pains that he has experienced in his body. When he was feeling stable he would advise us of warning signs in case he would begin to act out again. He told us that he felt like a very old man but he was only 38 years old. He said that his time was short and that he was finished. The family knew that he was totally against suicide therefore it was not the first thing on our mind. But yet he did not know how to end his own suffering. Eventually his emotion and his drinking problems got the best of him at the very end.
The statement that the family wanted to make to the community is that he was a very good man, a man of integrity. He loved God and was very sincere in his effort to serve him and others. He was never abusive throughout his married years. He did not have anything against the police or any type of law enforcements. He was proud of his nation, his country and have always wanted to serve in the military but due to his deafness he was not eligible. People who knew him knows that he is highly intelligent and is very capable of communicating with just about anybody through gestures and body language. For that reason we knew that there were no misunderstanding going on between him and the deputies that were working hard to find common grounds in order to resolve peacefully. If there is anybody that truly understand gestures and body language it is Sammy. Indeed what happened is very unfortunate but the family has no doubt about Sammy’s desire to retire from this morale life in order to live his next life.
Additionally Sammy has always said he’d love to die fighting for a noble cause, fighting for what he believes in. It has never occurred to the family and his friend that he would view the recent incident as a noble cause because there was nothing noble about getting into a gun fight with the police. There was nothing noble about hitting a wife. Quitting on life was not noble either. The family knows that Sammy knows that as well. Therefore the family came down to a final conclusion. Sammy did not want to be taken away from the family whom he loved with his whole heart, mind and soul. He could not tolerate the idea of being in jail or being kept in a mental hospital for any period of time. Instead he would rather die than to be taken away from his family and his home against his will. Evidently that in itself was enough of a noble cause for him to make his own stand in the stand-off with the law enforcement, which ended his life.
Therefore the family is seeking a peaceful closure to this matter. Based on integrity, it is the family’s wish to relieve the Law Enforcement Officers from the burden and guilt. They had no choice but to assume the burden while they were on duty. The family feel for the Law Enforcement Officers that were there to witness such tragedy, never mind who pulled the trigger. In order to preserve the integrity of our country, our community and our values the family wanted to give everybody a chance to get to know Sammy. Reputation and integrity meant everything to Sammy therefore the family has no doubt about the statement that they are making.
And lastly, the family would like to thank the entire community for the outpouring of sympathy, love and compassion. It was overwhelming but it gave the family a new faith in life and human beings. The family feels that Clinton is a model community therefore the family is grateful to be a part of it.
Sincerely,
Barry Sewell
