| Ike Thornton | |
|---|---|
 Ike Thornton bringing Esposito up to speed | |
| Vital Statistics | |
| Full Name | Isaac Thornton |
| AKA | Ike (nickname) |
| Gender | Male |
| Status | Alive |
| Occupation | Former homicide police officer |
| Spouse(s) | Carol Thornton (wife) |
| Children | Tim Thornton (son) |
| Character Information | |
| Appearances | "Den of Thieves" |
| Portrayed by | Aaron D. Spears |
Isaac "Ike" Thornton was a Homicide officer at the 54th Precinct, and the partner of Javier Esposito, many moons before "Den of Thieves" began.
Ike disappeared in a hit engineered by Victor Racine, an extremely powerful crime lord, or so it seemed, until his fingerprint showed up on a murder victim, Paul Finch.
Paul and Ike had history, as Ike had cut Paul's little brother, Barry, a break when he caught him during the commission of his first B&E, and it turned out that Paul was one of the few people who knew Ike had faked his own death, making it look like a Mob hit.
Of course, Ike's wife Carol had also been in on it, along, in a manner, with his son Tim. The reason was simple - Racine had someone on his payroll with the NYPD plant evidence that made Ike look as if he himself was dirty. IA was closing in, and Ike thought that his career, if not his life, was over, unless he could disappear, and find a way to take Racine down.
Ike called in a favor, getting Paul to help him break into a Racine associate's strongbox, and it was this that got Paul killed, as Fred Cana realized who was responsible for the theft and alerted Racine's real inside man, IA Lieutenant Stan Holliwell, who tortured and killed Paul in an attempt to recover the ledgers he stole, documents which proved Holliwell's own complicity with Racine, as well as detailing many of Racine's other illegal activities.
When the team realized that Ike was still alive, they knew that Carol had to be aware, and Esposito approached her, trying to get to the bottom of the mystery, since, at that point, Ike himself was the prime suspect in the Finch murder. When he concluded that Ike had been set up, Esposito went off the reservation, quickly followed by the rest of the team, who arrived in time to catch Holliwell.
Holliwell had shot Ike, hoping to also kill Esposito and then retell the story with himself as the hero but Esposito had grabbed Ike's gun and shot, and severely wounded, Holliwell, who was then forced to flee. Ike himself took a bullet in the altercation, but it was a clean shot, passing through the shoulder, and he survived to finally see Victor Racine dragged into the precinct to face charges that would, in all probability, put him away for the rest of his life.