Cameron Probert / Tri-City Herald (TNS)
Prosecutors have filed charges against a Washington State Patrol trooper for killing a 20-year-old Richland man in a wreck nearly six months ago.
Prosecutors charged Sarah L. Clasen, 35, with one count of vehicular homicide while under the influence for the death of Jhoser Vega Sanchez on Highway 240 about 7:30 p.m. on March 1.
Spokane’s Assistant Criminal Chief Attorney Katie McNulty filed the case Thursday. Hundreds of comments have flooded police and media Facebook pages in the months since the crash. All of them questioning why she hadn’t been charged.
Clasen will not be held in the jail before entering a plea at a Sept. 24 arraignment.
Prosecutor Eric Eisinger asked the Spokane Prosecutor’s Office to handle the case, because he felt the relationship between his office and the police agency created a potential issue.
Former Spokane Prosecutor Larry Haskell and current Prosecutor Preston McCollam promised that charges would be coming, but they were working on the logistics of the case. Highway 240 crash
Clasen was driving a Kia Telluride on Highway 240 about 7:30 p.m. March 1 when she started turning toward her home in the Horn Rapids neighborhood of north Richland.
She told investigators she was going about 20 mph when she collided with Sanchez’s oncoming motorcycle. He was severely injured and pronounced dead at Kadlec Regional Medical Center.
Clasen refused at the time to answer Richland officers’ questions about whether she had been drinking, though she said she didn’t feel impaired.
The investigation found Clasen spent nearly four hours at a Richland bar with her husband prior to the crash. Reports obtained by the Herald under the Public Records Act show the couple were regulars at the bar at a former Chinese restaurant.
Clasen remains on paid administrative leave, WSP officials said last week.
Her attorney Scott Johnson previously said the case is more complex than it’s been made to appear.
“In today’s world, people demand instant answers and then rush to judgment,” Johnson previously said in a statement. “However, drawing conclusions without all the facts is not only irresponsible, but also unjust to our client. She deserves, and the law demands that she receives, fair and impartial proceedings—not a system biased against her.”
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