Heart of a Giant. Peter Thompson is a former high school football player and a son of our community. Stepinac high school crowned him with the Heart of a Giant Award. The Westchester County District Attorney Mimi Rocah is haunting him with being a gang member.
How did we get here?
Last year he attended a vigil for a friend that was the victim of senseless violence. Unfortunately, while at the vigil, 12 alleged gang members (many of whom were childhood friends who took different paths) attacked a young man continuing the cycle of senseless violence.
Fearing reprisal against him or his family for non-action, Peter threw a kick at the end of this beating, which did not connect. He retreated to the sidewalk, hoping it would quell any questions from the group about why he stood by spectating.
The initial press release after the group’s arrest mislabeled Peter as a gang member; this was defamatory. Peter was in the wrong place at the wrong time; he is not and has never been a gang member.
The Westchester County District Attorney’s Office is currently engaging in defamatory and misleading conduct, which directly contradicts its pronouncement of understanding and caring about impoverished communities of color. According to Thompson’s lawyer, William Wagstaff III is addressing Thompson being lumped with others and never publicly acknowledging Peter Thompson having a limited role and not being a gang member. He stated that she is “playing politics with young Black lives”.
William Wagstaff is calling upon the district attorney in correcting and clarifying miss information including a press release an apology to Peter Thompson for the reputational damage her office has caused. “It is too often we are told one thing to secure votes but the actions taken in private do not reflect the public proclamation,” stated William Wagstaff III.
For several months, with the support of Dr. Jim Bostic, Westchester County Board of Legislators Majority Leader Chris Johnson & County Legislator Tyrae Woodson-Samuels, City of Mount Vernon Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard and Stepinac faculty to get the Westchester County District Attorney to understand that Peter acted under duress and was not guilty of a crime.
A resolution was reached – avoiding the risk of trial. It is maintained that he is innocent – which will end the case with a disorderly conduct (a violation, not a crime). The Judge has agreed that all records, fingerprints, and the disorderly conduct itself will be sealed after a year if Peter stays in school; the functional equivalent of a dismissal/acquittal.
As of the first week in November 2022 Westchester County District Attorney issued another press release after the conviction of one of Peter’s co-defendants and gratuitously recast the entire story, including Peter, misleading the reader to think Peter is a gang member convicted of a Felony. This was presumably to play to the police and convey her office is “tough on crime.”
Wagstaff invited elected officials and other community leaders to a press conference with Thompson’s family Saturday, November 19, 2022 to call on Rocah to reconsider. New York 16th Congressional District Jamaal Bowmen called Peter to join him while he spoke. “Peter Thompson is not a thug, he is not a gang member, he is not gang affiliated. If he is gang affiliated then I am gang affiliated as a member of the US Representative. Peter Thompson is a scholar athletic who is pursuing a higher education degree.” Standing with the Thompson family was Archbishop C. Nathan Edwers, Senior Pastor of Friendship Center Mount Vernon, New York and Former President of United Black Clergy of Westchester Bishop Collie Nathan Edwers who shared, “This problem in Westchster is systemic. The District Attorney has not taken us seriously. We can tell with a lack of persons working in The Westchester County District who look like us who can identify with our struggle.”
Peter Thompson is currently a student at Westchster Community College waiting for District Attorney Miriam Rocah statement clarifying the resolution of his case, acknowledge that Peter is not a gang member, and apologize to him.
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