More than a year after being shot by U of C cop, man Tased, arrested in northwest Indiana

The man who was shot by a University of Chicago campus police officer last year was Tased and arrested by police in northwest Indiana last week — just days after he was reported missing from his home on the Northwest Side.

Charles Thomas was charged in Lake County, Indiana with public indecency after, police say, he exposed himself to officers who were searching for him in a cornfield.

Earlier this month, Cook County Sheriff’s officers had done a well-being check on Thomas but he was not home; in a report made after their visit, the officers noted that Thomas suffers from bipolar disorder and had not returned calls from his mother and attorney.

The Indiana incident started when Lake County Sheriff’s officers were dispatched to an unincorporated area near Lowell, Ind. on Sept. 19. Someone had called 911 to report “a male wearing nothing except a brown blanket at the edge of a cornfield,” according to a statement from the sheriff’s office.

Once there, the officers searched the area and eventually saw “a brown blanket moving” in the cornfield, police said. The officers told the person to stop; instead, he dropped the blanket and exposed himself.

“Officers repeatedly told the man to stop, but he refused,” the statement read.

Thomas, 23, was then Tased and taken to an area hospital for a medical evaluation. He was later charged with public indecency and booked in the Lake County Jail. The sheriff’s office said Thomas is “believed to have appeared naked and fled from officers on as many as 5 occasions in approximately 11 days.”

Thomas’ attorney did not return a message seeking comment Wednesday morning.

In April 2018, Thomas, then a fourth-year University of Chicago student, was shot by an officer in the school’s campus police department.

Officers were responding to a call of a burglary in the 5300 block of South Kimbark when they encountered Thomas, who had a metal pipe and was breaking windows of cars and apartments, police said at the time.

On a body-camera video released after the shooting, an officer in a police vehicle says, “mental, he’s a mental,” then yells out, “Hey, sir!” then “Hey, stop there, stop there!” as Thomas approaches, wearing a maroon jacket, yellow gloves and a large plastic visor.

“Stop there! Don’t come at me!” the officer says.

The officer gets out of his car as Thomas continues to approach.

The officer steps backward and yells, “He’s got a crowbar. Put it down!” He keeps retreating and says, “Put down the weapon!”

Thomas yells out, “What the f--- you want?”

Someone says, “Tase him!”

Then the officer repeats, “Sir, I need you to drop that weapon!”

Thomas runs at the officer, who yells, “Don’t come at me!” and fires his gun at Thomas, who then screamed expletives at officers who rushed to his side as he lay in the alley.

Thomas was later charged charged with aggravated assault of a peace officer and criminal damage to property, both felonies, along with criminal damage to property, a misdemeanor, police said.

On Sept. 8, Cook County sheriff’s officers went to Thomas’ home in Logan Square to perform a curfew/well-being check. Thomas’ roommate told the officers he hadn’t seen Thomas in three days.

Later that day, the Chicago Police Department issued a missing person alert for Thomas. That alert was canceled on the day Thomas was arrested in Indiana.

On Sept. 10, a Cook County judge approved an arrest warrant for Thomas.

Lake County court records show Thomas appeared in court in Indiana on Monday, where he waived extradition and was ordered back to face charges in Cook County. He appeared before the judge without an attorney.