There’s this female cop, Sarah Clasen, who went viral for urging local drivers to remain attentive behind the wheel, it turns out she has been arrested for killing a motorcyclist while driving under the influence of alcohol.
You’d think a cop would know better than to drink and drive. It’s like the number one rule they’re supposed to follow. But for whatever reason, she chose to jump behind the wheel and drive despite being drunk.
Sarah Clasen, 35, a public information officer for the Washington State Patrol, was taken into custody Saturday night, shortly after Richland police officers responded to the scene of State Route 240 near Horn Rapids, KOMO News reports.
Officers had received a call about a motorcyclist struck near a residential neighborhood at around 7.40pm, but were the second to arrive on the scene, behind the Washington State Patrol, according to KIMA TV.
There, they found motorcyclist Jhoser Sanchez, 20, mortally wounded.
First responders transferred him to a local hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, the Tri-City Herald reports.
When troopers later learned that Clasen was one of their own, the Washington State Patrol turned the investigation over to the local police department, which arrested her and booked her into the Benton County Jail.
The Richland Police Department requested she be held at the jail on a 72-hour hold for vehicular homicide.
She was off-duty at the time of the crash and was driving her personal vehicle, WSP Chief John Batiste noted.
In an affidavit obtained by the Tri-City Herald, Richland Police Officer Steve Heid claimed Clasen smelled of alcohol when he questioned her about the collision.
He detailed how Clasen claimed she was on her way home after picking up pizza from Domino’s and was making a left turn into the neighborhood.
She allegedly said she saw a single light, presumably from the motorcycle, but believed it was a car missing a headlight.
It wasn’t until she made her turn that she felt the collision, which she said seemed to have come out of nowhere, according to the affidavit.
‘Sarah told me that the motorcyclist was definitely going faster than the posted speed limit,’ Heid wrote, noting that the damage to Clasen’s SUV did not align with her story.
She reportedly said she was nearly finished making the turn when the crash occurred, but most of the damage was to the right front passenger corner of the vehicle.
‘She would have just begun to turn at the time of impact,’ Heid wrote.
‘Also, the motorcycle was almost completely under the front of her vehicle as it rested on the side of the highway.’
The officer went on to write that he believed Clasen had an unobstructed view of oncoming traffic and ‘an attentive driver would have been able to see the motorcyclist prior to the collision.’
When he then asked Clasen to perform sobriety tests or submit to a breathalyzer test, she refused.
When Heid asked her a second time, Clasen allegedly said she ‘knows how it works.’
This whole situation is just messed up. It’s sad to think that someone who’s supposed to be protecting and serving could do something so reckless. I hope justice is served and that the victim’s family can find some sort of peace in all of this.
Flip the page for photos of Clasen in jail.
