Spokane7
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December 23, 2009 in City
Police chief fires officer involved in hit-and-run
Thoma was drunk at time of crash
Thoma
(Full-size photo)
A police sergeant involved in a drunken hit-and-run crash in September has been fired.
Bradley N. Thoma, 44, is no longer employed by the Spokane Police Department as of Monday, the department announced Tuesday.
Thoma, a 20-year police veteran, will avoid criminal prosecution for the crash if he stays out of trouble for five years under an agreement approved in District Court in November.
But the agreement requires him to use a breathalyzer device to start his car, which Spokane police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick said prohibits him from completing the duties of a police officer.
“A valid driver’s license without restrictions is essential for the job,” Kirkpatrick said in a prepared statement.
Thoma was driving his personal Dodge Ram pickup on Sept. 23 when he hit the back of Sherry L. Prickett’s Ford Ranger near the intersection of Farwell Road and U.S. Highway 2. He then drove away.
Prickett, 51, and another driver followed Thoma to the parking lot of a Yoke’s Fresh Market, where Thoma told a state trooper he’d been planning to buy steaks.
Thoma smelled strongly of alcohol, troopers said. He told them he had just golfed at Wandermere Golf Course and “knew he had hit someone’s car and not stopped to give her his information,” according to a report from the Washington State Patrol.
“He talked about how he was probably going to lose his job or at least lose his supervisory position,” the arresting officer wrote. “He also told me he knew I was just doing my job and he was sorry for putting me in the position of arresting a fellow officer.”
Under the deferred prosecution agreement, Thoma – whose blood-alcohol level was 0.171, more than twice the legal limit for driving – will basically be on probation for five years and be required to complete a rehabilitation program in the first two years.
The DUI won’t appear on his record if he completes the program. The misdemeanor hit-and-run charge was dismissed under a “misdemeanor compromise” agreement after a judge read a letter from Prickett that said she’d been paid for the damage to her vehicle and was “not interested in (pursuing) Mr. Thoma any further.”
Prickett later said she didn’t know the letter would lead to the hit-and-run charge being dismissed.
Thoma joined the Spokane Police Department in October 1989. He’s worked in the drug unit and on the SWAT team. In 1991, he was one of two officers involved in a gunfight with a fugitive that killed an innocent bystander. A jury cleared both of wrongdoing in a civil case in 1994.
In January, Thoma suffered a minor stab wound to the jaw outside a downtown Spokane restaurant in a confrontation with two men he said were harassing his fiancé, Spokane police Officer Amy Ross. Charges against one of the men, Shannon Dogskin, were dismissed; another, Kenneth J. Kheel, is serving two years in prison.
Thoma made $91,141 a year as a sergeant.
Sex trafficking suspects released as probe continues 
mdriftmeyer on December 23 at 12:31 a.m.
Who authorizes these salaries?
Between these nearly 6 figure salaries between the City and County Sheriff department it’s no wonder we can’t balance the books.
A mandatory 15% cut across the board of all overpaid officers would balance the books.
Show me a military Sargeant getting that type of pay and serving time in Afghanistan.
http://www.us-army-info.com/pages/ranks.html
You have to be a Colonel to warrant that kind of salary.
Obscene salaries need to be cut down to reality.
Erik_T on December 23 at 3:55 a.m.
It is what it is…. Who knows, who cares, merry CHRISTmas.
Scoutster on December 23 at 5:39 a.m.
The right thing to do by the Chief. But if the Chief did it ONLY because his license has restrictions, then it’s doing the right thing for the wrong reasons.
How about “A SPD officer who drives drunk gets fired.”? Or, “A SPD officer who is guilty of a hit and run gets fired.”?
Just a couple of minimum standards they might consider.
spokanada on December 23 at 7:40 a.m.
Thanks Chief!
Happy Holidays Erik!
elcee1987 on December 23 at 8:12 a.m.
It sounds like the only reason he was fired was because his driver’s license has restrictions. what the heck?? I agree with the other poster, how about getting fired because you were driving drunk?? Why are police officers continually treated as above the law in Spokane?
And why is he being allowed to skirt his DUI conviction? If anything, his career as a police officers should EXTEND his prison sentence, not negate it!
westside on December 23 at 8:44 a.m.
Oh, don’t worry he will get his pension at around $50-$60,000 a year, compliments of Spokane taxpayers, he’s laughing all the way to the bank..
lewis8457 on December 23 at 8:52 a.m.
Early retirement at 50 grand a year plus. even when you lose as a police officer you still win.
Flea on December 23 at 10:07 a.m.
Lots of people worked hard for this result. Chief said what she said for good cause.
The details are complicated but the fact remains that lots of good people worked hard to rid the SPD of this cancer. Well done Anne!!!!!
The follow up story is even more interesting.
Mr Thoma has hired on as the Chief of Loss Prevention at Toys R Us. They make him wear a muzzle and Superman Underoos but otherwise it’s a distinguished position for a man of his stature.
To the people in the SPD and the friends and family of Thoma that enabled him for the last 20 years–Shame on you. Lord knows what kind of man Thoma could have been had he surrounded himself with decent people years ago. People that had the courage to help a guy when he was down.
Hopefully Thoma will invest part of his undeserved pension on a U-Haul and lots of gas.
Merry Christmas.
MrNatural on December 23 at 12:17 p.m.
May the spirit of this holiday season bestow upon you the same compassion you have expressed toward your fellow man.