Judge keeps Rock Hill father jailed after chase where cops wanted son in murder

A Rock Hill felon caught with drugs and guns after a 100-plus mile per hour chase last month while police were looking for his son for murder will remain in jail after a judge agreed with prosecutors that he is a flight risk and danger to the public if released.

Police arrested Christopher Shon Thompson Sr., 55, on Aug. 7 as they were seeking his son after a fatal shooting during an armed robbery in Rock Hill the day before. He led officers more than 30 miles during a pursuit from Rock Hill to Chester on busy rural roads and city streets, prosecutor Peri Imler told visiting Judge Eugene Griffith in a York County criminal court hearing last week.

Griffith asked jail officials at the hearing last week to give him a report on Thompson’s health after Thompson’s lawyer, Colin Okoye, said Thompson is deaf and raised concerns about medical treatment for back and intestinal problems while in custody. After receiving that report, Griffith ruled on Wednesday that Thompson should stay in jail pending trial.

“In consideration of the nature of the charges and the applicable statutes, the court has balanced the interests of the victims as well as the safety of the general public and the danger to the community. In doing so, this court finds that the motion to set bond is denied,” Griffith wrote in the order denying bail.

Thompson faces charges of failure to stop for blue lights in a high-speed chase, three drug charges including two counts of trafficking narcotics, and four weapon charges including possession of a gun by a person with a past felony that prohibits possession of weapons.

Rock Hill police, York County drug agents, S.C. Highway Patrol troopers, and Chester County and city officers pursued Thompson because they believed his son might be with him in the van, Imler said. He fled south from York County into Chester County and ran over police stop sticks and continued to drive with flat tires, including sideswiping an officer’s patrol car, Imler said.

Video of the chase played in court showed Thompson’s van speeding from Rock Hill out of York County and through downtown Chester.

Imler said that Thompson knew there were officers with sirens and blue lights chasing him, but Thompson put the public in danger during the daytime chase.

“Blue lights are on by the way, I know he’s deaf, but he’s not blind,” Imler told Griffith.

When officers finally stopped the van, they found around 350 grams of cocaine, around 150 grams of crack, and three loaded guns.

Griffith watched the chase video in court and said, “That’s bad.”

Okoye said, “I concede that it looks bad, but in isolation this is a failure to stop for blue light, albeit it was a 30-mile failure to stop for blue light, but no one was hurt.”

Okoye said Thompson knows he should have stopped but was afraid and should be released because the police probe into the killing involved his son, not him. Moreover, Thompson has serious medical issues that would be better treated outside of jail as the case moves forward, Okoye argued.

Yet Imler, the prosecutor, countered that the chase, drugs and guns show a clear danger to the community and risk Thompson would flee again.

Griffith said to Okoye: “What’s he doin’ ridin’ around in a van full of drugs and guns?”

Okoye responded: “Your honor, I don’t know, but as of right now the only reason they were going after him was because of his son and that was a totally unrelated incident; he should have stopped.”

Thompson told the judge about his health problems and vowed to return to court if given bail. “I’m not a flight risk; my family is here,” Thompson said.

In a different hearing last week in Rock Hill municipal court, another judge ruled prosecutors can move forward after finding there was probable cause for police to have arrested Thompson Sr. on the failure to stop, drug and weapons charges.

Testimony in that hearing showed Rock Hill officers attached to the York County drug unit had Thompson Sr. under surveillance in the investigation Aug. 7 to find his son after the botched robbery the day before ended with 18-year-old Jeremiah Jacorey Tolliver being killed. Police and prosecutors have said Thompson Sr. is not thought to be connected to the robbery and killing.

The son, Christopher Shon Thompson Jr., 23, who was on probation at the time for a past burglary conviction, fled after the Aug. 6 shooting and was arrested the day after the chase on Aug. 8. He remains jailed without bail on charges of murder, armed robbery, conspiracy and weapons.

Thompson Jr. and another man, Ka’Darius Rishon Turner-Hansley, 19, are accused of conspiring with the 18-year-old Tolliver to rob another man of a gun Aug. 6 before the victim shot and killed Tolliver in a gunfight in what police said was self-defense. Police charged Thompson Jr. and Turner-Hansley with murder because the death happened during a felony crime.

Thompson Sr., along with Thompson Jr. and Turner-Hansley, face decades in prison if convicted.

No trial dates have been set.

This story was originally published September 10, 2026 at 4:05 PM with the headline “Judge keeps Rock Hill father jailed after chase where cops wanted son in murder.”