Christopher Thompson sentenced to probation for involvement in fatal Walsh County crash
Sep. 16—WALSH COUNTY — A Grafton man was sentenced to probation on Friday, Sept. 15, for his involvement in a fatal 2021 crash.
"My father lost his life," Leah Schatzke, the victim's daughter, wrote in a victim impact statement. "Chris Thompson gets to spend the rest of his life acting like nothing happened."
According to an affidavit in the case, Walsh County dispatchers were notified about a crash on County Road 9 at 9:13 p.m. on Nov. 12, 2022. The road was covered in snow and ice. A GMC Yukon was traveling east when it drove off the road to the north, striking two trees.
One of six occupants, 48-year-old Jason Schatzke, died in the crash.
Tanya Schatzke, the victim's wife, was another passenger. She wrote a statement for an advocate to read aloud during the sentencing hearing at the Walsh County Courthouse. In it, she explained she didn't want Thompson to be with their group that night, but her husband made a point to be inclusive and — another wrote — see the good in people.
No one other than Thompson planned to be out that late, Anita Olson and Rodney Olson wrote in their shared statement. Thompson drove them to multiple different bars in the area to drink and thank people who voted for him as Walsh County commissioner — a position he ultimately decided not to accept after the crash.
Thompson insisted on driving the Schatzke's vehicle despite being impaired but, when he crashed, he was unwilling to take responsibility for it, Tanya Schatzke wrote. He yelled at Jason Schatzke, asking why he wasn't wearing a seat belt.
According to Tanya Schatzke, though, Jason Schatzke took his seat belt off — briefly — to retrieve his cell phone out of a back pocket, because Thompson asked him to make a phone call.
"He had already started blaming others," Anita Olson and Rodney Olson wrote.
At the scene, Walsh County sheriff's deputies determined Christopher Thompson was driving under the influence, the affidavit said. Further investigation revealed he was talking on his cell phone while driving, as well.
Tanya Schatzke and others wrote in their statements about the trauma that affects them daily since the crash: anxiety, insomnia, nightmares.
"Every time I close my eyes, I see blood," she wrote.
Thompson, 47, was originally charged with Class A felony criminal vehicular homicide and Class C felony DUI crash involving injury. The Class C felony was dismissed in January.
Later, an autopsy report revealed Schatzke's cause of death was a heart condition and, therefore, it couldn't be proven that Thompson caused the man's death. His crash injuries alone were not fatal.
"I know in my heart Mr. Thompson killed my husband," Tanya Schatzke wrote.
Mark Friese, Thompson's lawyer, explained Thompson "is not the monster he's being portrayed to be." He has no prior criminal record, and was not the only adult who made decisions that night, Friese said.
After the final autopsy report, the state and defense
proposed to amend the Class A felony criminal vehicular homicide charge
to Class A misdemeanor reckless endangerment. Judge Kari Agotness denied the amendment, though, saying the charges are for two different crimes.
Eventually,
the case was dismissed
and a
new one
was opened. Thompson was charged with reckless endangerment, a crime that's under presumptive probation, which means Agotness was prohibited from executing a jail sentence. She was required, instead, to impose probation alongside a suspended sentence.
"The entire legal process has, quite frankly, been disgusting," Tanya Schatzke wrote.
Thompson was sentenced to 360 days with 326 days suspended. He has credit for the remaining 34 days. He's required to be on a 24/7 sobriety program for 360 days. He has credit for some of that time already, though no specific number of days was mentioned in court.
Thompson will be on supervised probation for 18 months and owes $2,705 in restitution.
Friese explained that, though Thompson hadn't verbally taken accountability for the crime, it's because he'd been instructed not to be in contact with anyone involved in the case.
On Friday, though, Thompson apologized to the victims, their families and his own.
"My life has been forever changed due to the events of that day," Thompson said. "My eyes have been opened."
Leah Schatzke wrote that the victims in this case were silenced, and if this is the outcome for driving drunk and killing someone, then why should people be law-abiding citizens? Why should there be a legal system?
"To those of you who feel like this court has not done justice today, under the circumstances, you may be correct," Agotness said.
