1 year since fatal WSP trooper crash. She’s still awaiting trial

A year ago, a 20-year-old motorcyclist was struck and killed when an off-duty Washington State Patrol trooper pulled in front of him on a Richland highway.

Trooper Sarah Clasen is scheduled to go on trial May 18 for DUI vehicular homicide after investigators say blood tests six hours after the crash showed her blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit.

Now, it looks like her trial will be delayed again.

“We are continuing to work on the case,” her attorney Scott Johnson told the Tri-City Herald this week. “With the assistance of our experts, we have identified some missing evidence items, and I am working with the state to get those items.”

Clasen is out of jail without bail awaiting trial. She is expected back in court next week so prosecutors and Johnson can update the judge on the status of the case. Johnson told the Herald he didn’t have an estimate on when the trial might begin.

Until then, Clasen, 36, remains on paid administrative leave from her 13-year job with the state patrol, said Chris Loftis, WSP’s director of public affairs.

He said her leave will continue until the court case is finished or the agency “can make an assessment of the facts to determine appropriate personnel action that will not impact the courts processes, deliberations or rulings.”

The six-month delay in charging Clasen and postponements in court have fueled speculation by many in the public and frustrated Jhoser Vega Sanchez’s family.

March 1 marked the anniversary of his death. Fresh flowers and a tiny red motorcycle adorned his grave at Sunset Gardens in Richland.

His family continues to grieve, attorney Jeff Kreutz with Tamaki Law told the Tri-City Herald. The firm is representing the family in their lawsuit against Clasen, her husband and the bar where they were drinking the day of the crash.

“The anniversary was difficult,” he said. “They continue to monitor the criminal proceedings and are awaiting the next hearing date. They expect the case to go to trial, and they will be there to represent Jhoser’s memory.“

“He was a bright and loving soul who brought joy to everyone around him and his absence has left a void that we cannot begin to describe,” his mother Yolimar Sanchez Barbosa wrote about him when they were raising money for his funeral.

Jhoser still lived with his mother and her boyfriend and worked for Lamb Weston potato processing. He had taken the 2002 Suzuki TL1000 motorcycle out for a ride, after asking permission to go for a drive on the bike he’d recently purchased.

Richland investigators say he was driving about 2 mph below the posted speed limit of 55 mph on Highway 240 when he collided with Clasen’s SUV.

His family didn’t know Clasen and her husband, though they lived about a half mile apart in the Horn Rapids subdivision in north Richland.

While the furor around the investigation has dimmed in recent months, it was the focus of months of controversy as people questioned the delays and wondered if Clasen was receiving special treatment because of her law enforcement job.

And the trooper’s release without any bail and no alcohol-monitoring restrictions stoked conjecture.

Officials tried to assure the public the delays were due in great part to Benton County Prosecutor Eric Eisinger asking Spokane County to handle the case to avoid any local conflicts of interest.

Spokane prosecutors charged Clasen about six months after the fatal crash.

Even after charges were filed, prosecutors didn’t ask a judge to order Clasen to use a common electronic device that requires a driver to pass a test before being able to start a car and drive.

Deadly March 1 crash

Richland police have released to the Herald more than 400 pages of reports and hours of videos detailing their investigation of Clasen and the crash on Highway 240.

Richland detectives investigated the collision instead of the state patrol since it involved a WSP employee.

Police reports obtained by the Herald found Clasen spent four several hours at a Richland bar with her husband after finishing her shift earlier in the day.

She left separately in her Kia Telluride, stopping to pick up a pizza before heading toward her home.

She was making a left turn into her Horn Rapids neighborhood when she collided with Vega Sanchez’s motorcycle. He died soon after at Kadlec Regional Medical Center.

Clasen told fellow WSP troopers when they arrived at the crash scene that she didn’t realize Vega Sanchez was so close when she was making her turn.

Richland police Officer Steve Heid’s told Clasen at the scene that he wanted to run the investigation “like normal” and asked if she would do sobriety tests.

“I don’t think I want to do any,” she said, according to Heid’s body-cam footage.

“OK. What about PBT (preliminary breath test)? Are you willing to do voluntary PBT?” Heid asked.

“I don’t want to do any test based on the circumstances,” she responded. However, she agreed to write out a statement and claimed she had slowed and believed there was plenty of time to make the turn.

“It wasn’t like I was trying to squeak in,” she said. “There was plenty of room.”

Heid tried a second time to get her to agree to sobriety tests or a preliminary breath test.

“I’ll be honest with you. I would love to rule out impairment, but without the fields (sobriety tests), it’s hard to rule that out. Obviously, it’s voluntary, I won’t ask again. There may always be that question down the road,” Heid told her.

“I’d just rather not,” Clasen responded. “I understand, but I know how it goes too.”

“What do you mean, you know how it goes?” Heid asked.

“Even if there is a little, if I had a glass of wine earlier or something like that. I just don’t want to do it,” Clasen said. “I definitely don’t feel impaired. I don’t feel like impairment was an issue.”

“Did you have a glass of wine earlier?” Heid asked.

“I’m not going to answer,” Clasen responded.

Heid told other investigators that he detected a faint smell of alcohol and her eyes were slightly glossy, and there are some spelling mistakes on her statement. He believed there was enough cause to arrest her on suspicion of DUI vehicular homicide.

“I think she has something onboard,” he told another officer, referring to her having been drinking.

Wait for charges

Because she refused the sobriety tests, Clasen was arrested. Six hours later her blood sample taken with a court order reportedly showed her blood-alcohol level was 0.17%, said police reports. That’s more than twice the state’s legal limit of 0.08%.

The crash was on a Saturday night, and Clasen remained in the Benton County jail until she could appear in court on Monday.

Prosecutor Eisinger requested her bail be set at $150,000 bail, noting if she is convicted she could face up to 8 1/2 years in prison.

“I am mindful that cash bail is standard, but it’s not required,” Judge Diana Ruff said at the time. “I don’t have concerns about her fleeing. She has sufficient ties to the community.”

Clasen was released but wasn’t formally charged with for six months. Spokane County’s prosecutor, Larry Haskell, told the Herald he was awaiting more lab tests, and then in June 2025 he announced plans to retire.

McCollam, his chief criminal deputy prosecutor, took over the office and said he needed to work on scheduling issues. Clasen was charged and pleaded innocent in September.

Her trial is still set to be in Benton County, though it’s not clear if defense attorneys will ask to move it to another county.