Standing in front of the St. Petersburg Police Department Friday, Christopher Tonsel’s mother teared up as she told reporters about her son’s condition.
Once weighing 170 pounds, the 17-year-old is now at about 130 pounds. Catherine Jones said her son is not able to keep food down and has panic attacks. He has suffered lung, pancreas and liver damage, she said, and he is being held in a jail cell for 23 hours a day.
On Oct. 20, St. Petersburg K9 Officer Leighton Williams shot Tonsel in the abdomen and left ribcage during a police pursuit after authorities say the teenager fled the scene of a domestic dispute.
“He was terrified,” Jones said.
“When did you fear for your life?” she said of the officer. “And why do you feel that it was all right to shoot my son?”
Tonsel is being charged as an adult with aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, carrying a concealed firearm and being a minor in possession of a firearm. He also was arrested on juvenile charges of burglary and grand theft motor vehicle, according to a report issued Wednesday from a task force that investigated the shooting and cleared the officer.
Tonsel’s family, along with members of local social justice organizations the Party for Socialism and Liberation and St. Pete Cop Watch, gathered Friday outside the police department to protest the shooting, drawing a crowd of about 40 people. Activists called for Williams to be fired and arrested, and for authorities to drop Tonsel’s charges.
