PORTRAYALS OF VICTIM DIFFER

His mother says 20-year-old Antione Thomas was friendly and harmless, an
expectant father who suffered from a mental affliction that rendered him
little more than a child himself.

"He's just a big kid," Arvela Thomas said.

But police portray Thomas as a suspected drug dealer, carrying 33 bags of
cocaine and communicating with an accomplice by two-way radio.

They say he was shot and killed Monday night by a plainclothes officer that
Thomas and other suspects tackled during a bust at the Robert Taylor Homes.

Police Supt. Terry Hillard said he is still investigating but does not
believe the case will raise fears of police brutality.

"One of the things you must realize is that dealing drugs is
illegal--simple as that," Hillard said.

Authorities say Thomas and four or five other alleged drug dealers tackled
a tactical officer and caused him to fire his gun. The unidentified officer
was coming down a stairwell of a high-rise at 4022 S. State. He and his
partner were investigating complaints of drug dealing in the building's
third-floor stairwell, police said.

One of the officers heard several voices yelling "clean it up, clean it
up," said police spokeswoman Lauri Sanders. The officer yelled "Police,"
drew his gun and was tackled by five or six men as he turned onto the
landing.

The men pushed the officer against the wall, and his gun fired when his arm
struck the wall, police said.

Thomas died of a single gunshot wound to the head.

Tavaref Short, 21, of the 7400 block of South Blackstone, was charged with
aggravated battery on a police officer.

Police found $195 and 14 rocks of crack cocaine by Thomas' hands at the
scene and another 33 bags of cocaine on his body at the morgue, a police
source said. And Thomas and Short had been communicating by two-way radio.

"What does that tell you?" the source said.

But Arvela Thomas and other relatives and friends insisted Tuesday that
Thomas was not dealing drugs. They said Thomas, who lived in the 4100 block
of South State, was at the building to visit an aunt and his girlfriend,
who is pregnant with their child.

Arvela Thomas said her son suffered from autism and was collecting Social
Security disability.