Aggravated murder charges filed against Olympia man in trooper’s death on I-5
An Olympia man was charged Friday with aggravated first-degree murder in connection with the death of Washington State Patrol Trooper Justin Schaffer, who was killed during a high-speed police pursuit on Interstate 5 in Chehalis.
William David Thompson is accused of deliberately plowing into Schaffer as the 28-year-old trooper set up spike strips to deflate the tires of Thompson’s fleeing pickup truck, The Seattle Times reported.
Under state law, aggravated first-degree murder is the only crime punishable by life in prison without the possibility of release.
In addition to aggravated murder, Thompson faces criminal charges related to a chain of events that started Monday at a convenience store in Lacey and culminated with Thompson crashing his pickup truck after a 20-mile-long police pursuit on southbound I-5 Tuesday.
Charging papers say Thompson went to the Pacific Mini Mart Monday where he argued with a clerk about lighter fluid, used racial slurs against her, and left with the lighter fluid without paying.
The clerk and another customer followed Thompson but were forced to retreat when he threatened them with a stun gun and then drove at the clerk who tried to photograph his license plate.
Police searched the area for Thompson’s pickup truck, but were unable to locate it.
On Tuesday, a Thurston County Sheriff’s deputy spotted the pickup in Olympia, attempted to pull it over, but the driver sped off on I-5.
In an attempt to stop the pickup, deputies asked the State Patrol to use spike strips to deflate the vehicle’s tires.
Schaffer waited on the shoulder and deployed his spike strips but court documents say the driver intentionally swerved into the trooper. Schaffer, who had been a trooper for seven years, died a short time later.
About a half-mile south, the pickup driver swerved into a second patrol vehicle, crashed the pickup after getting off the freeway and was arrested after a standoff with police.
Thompson remains jailed in lieu of $5 million bail.
This story was originally published March 28, 2020 at 3:14 PM.