Springfield Man Who Was Acquitted After Killing 2 While Allegedly Driving Drunk in 2016 Arrested For DUI Again By Wilbraham Police
This is Steven Thompson from East Longmeadow.
In 2016 he killed a man named Kyle Chapdelaine and a woman named Julisa Diaz, who were riding on a motorcycle, and was arrested for driving drunk in Springfield.
A year after the crash the homicide charges were dropped and Thompson was just charged with DUI.
Thompson, a landscaper, had a strong odor of alcohol on his breath, but told police he had his last drink five hours before. He performed poorly on a field sobriety test, and refused to take a blood alcohol test, according to the arrest report.
At the scene of the crash a nurse who witnessed what happened said that Thompson cut into the traveling lane Chapdelaine was riding in and ultimately dragged the motorcycle as he turned left onto Gary Road at the intersection with Parker Street.
Despite admitting to being drunk at the scene, telling police he had been drinking, and failing field sobriety tests, Thompson was still acquitted in a jury-waived trial presided over by Judge Charles W. Groce III, a 2012 Deval Patrick appointee, because he never submitted to the breathalyzer.
The defense claimed, without evidence, that Kyle Chapdelaine was high on marijuana and was the cause of the crash, despite the fact that both insurance companies agreed the crash was Steven’s fault. Although Kyle did smoke marijuana recreationally, having it in your system does not mean he was high at the time, since THC stays in your system for two weeks.
I spoke with a nurse who was the second person to arrive at the scene who told me that Steven Thompson reeked of alcohol, told her that he as coming from his boss’s house where he had been drinking since 5 (the crash occurred at 9:50 PM), and quoted him as saying “Oh my God, do you think he’s going to make it?”
According to this witness, who was never called to testify by the District Attorney’s Office, Steven wanted to leave the scene to go to his house nearby, and his brother and father arrived within minutes demanding to know why he was detained.
It was not Thompson’s first offense or DUI either. He had previous charges in Palmer, Holyoke, and Westfield District Courts, all involving alcohol, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, leaving the scene of property damage, and/or possession of heroin, including a 2010 DUI.
Yet he walked away with no punishment. Unsurprisingly Thompson never learned his lesson, which is why he was arrested again by the Wilbraham Police last weekend after driving drunk, refusing to pull over, and leading the police on a slow pursuit chase into Springfield.
This happened just one block away from where he killed Kyle Chapdelaine and Julisa Diaz in 2016, on Starling Road.
Clearly he has learned nothing. Ironically his mother Nancy has been quite vocal that people who abuse animals belong in jail.
Meanwhile her son killed two innocent people, and gets to masquerade as a law abiding citizen and loving father.
The story of the crash was covered extensively in 2016 by Masslive and WWLP News, but the family has had no luck in getting either media outlet to mention his most recent DUI arrest in Wilbraham. Maybe they’re just waiting for him to kill someone else.
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