Yakima police sergeant fired, facing criminal charges in assault on drunken driver

YAKIMA – A former Yakima police sergeant is charged with assaulting a man during a drunken-driving traffic stop in 2024.

Travis Wayne Shephard, 48, is charged with second- and fourth-degree assault in Yakima County Superior Court following an investigation by a Pasco police internal affairs detective into the case.

Shephard, a 10-year veteran of the YPD, appeared in Superior Court on a summons April 25 and was released on his own recognizance without court supervision following his arraignment on the charges.

Shephard was fired March 10 following an internal investigation into the incident, according to a report from the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission.

Shephard is accused of assaulting a man who was being placed under arrest for drunken driving and eluding police April 6, 2024.

According to a probable cause declaration filed by Deputy Yakima County Prosecuting Attorney Bret Roberts and a probable cause affidavit filed by Yakima police for the initial incident, Shephard saw a Jeep Wrangler drive past him at 2:17 a.m. in the 200 block of South First Street, accelerating rapidly and unable to stay in its travel lane. At one point, the Jeep went up on a curb when passing another vehicle.

Shephard pursued the Jeep, having to drive 75 mph to overtake it. The Jeep, after going through a red light at the intersection of South First Street and East Nob Hill Boulevard, stopped in the middle of the road, the declaration said.

When Shephard and another officer approached the Jeep, it sped off. Shephard forced the Jeep off the street with his patrol vehicle, pinning the Jeep’s rear driver’s wheel to immobilize it, the affidavit said.

The Jeep’s driver, Arturo Contreras-Diaz, 31, got out of the Jeep, but police said he did not show his hands as ordered when officers performed a high-risk traffic stop, the court documents said. YPD officers said Contreras-Diaz appeared to clench his fist and pull his arm back as if he were going to throw a punch.

Shephard then punched Contreras-Diaz in the face and Contreras-Diaz was taken down by police.

During the fight, Officer Michael Campos Jr. hit Contreras-Diaz, whom he said was moving his arms under his chest as if he were reaching for a weapon, the declaration said. Contreras-Diaz was handcuffed and stood on his feet, but Shephard said Contreras-Diaz threw his head back in a way Shephard interpreted as a possible attack on an officer, and Campos said Contreras-Diaz tried to spit on him, the documents said.

Officers again took Contreras-Diaz to the ground. The YPD affidavit said he was restrained before being picked up and put in a patrol vehicle. The Pasco investigation found through a review of dashboard camera footage that Shephard had his knee on Contreras-Diaz and struck him in the head and upper shoulder with his knee while Contreras-Diaz was handcuffed.

Contreras-Diaz, after being placed in the back of a patrol vehicle, was making snoring sounds and taking short breaths and was unresponsive, the declaration said. The officers put Contreras-Diaz on his side and rubbed his chest to wake him up, after which he came to and cursed at the officers, who again put him on the ground, where the documents said he tried to kick an officer.

Contreras-Diaz was loaded into an ambulance and taken to a hospital, the affidavit said. Police said Contreras-Diaz had an odor of alcohol on him.

“It is the state’s belief that Sergeant Shephard used his knee to strike Mr. Contreras-Diaz while he was prone, face-down and handcuffed; and that those knee strikes to the head caused (Contreras-Diaz) to temporarily lose consciousness,” the probable cause declaration said.

Contreras-Diaz was initially charged with eluding police, first-degree driving with a revoked license, felony driving under the influence and two counts of third-degree assault.

During a standard review of the pursuit and the use of force, YPD supervisors spotted possible policy violations and criminal activity by Shephard, according to a statement from YPD Chief Shawn Boyle. Then-Chief Matt Murray authorized an administrative investigation and consulted with the prosecutor’s office, which led to the investigation by Pasco police.

Shephard was fired after the administrative review, the statement said.

In November , Contreras-Diaz pleaded guilty to eluding and the felony DUI charge and was sentenced to 20 months in prison. He is incarcerated in the Coyote Ridge Corrections Center in Connell. He has prior convictions for felony DUI, and three gross-misdemeanor drunken-driving charges.

Shephard, a Sequim, Washington, native, previously worked for the Grandview (Wash.) Police Department as an officer for nine years, according to YPD’s Facebook page.

Court records show that Shephard was convicted of third-degree malicious mischief and reckless endangerment, both gross misdemeanors, in Clallam County Superior Court in 1998. He was sentenced to a year in jail with credit for three days served and 315 days suspended.