Coach denies second DUI charge

April 8, 2021 | By Lisa Scagliotti 

Harwood Union boys hockey coach Shawn Thompson was in court via video conference on Thursday to answer to his second charge of driving under the influence.

Shawn Thompson, Vt. State Police photo

Thompson, 31, of Duxbury, pleaded not guilty in Washington County criminal court in Barre to two misdemeanor counts: driving under the influence for a second time and driving over the legal limit for the second time. If convicted, Thompson faces a maximum sentence of four years in prison. 

The charges stem from a highway stop on Vermont Route 100 in Duxbury at 4:30 p.m. on March 21. 

Thompson, who went on to coach the varsity hockey team in the state championship three days later, is being represented by attorney Robert Katims. The Burlington defense lawyer also represented Steven D. Bourgoin, the driver convicted of five counts of second-degree murder in the 2016 wrong-way highway crash that killed five local teenagers, four of them students at Harwood Union High School. Bourgoin is serving 30 years to life in prison on the murder counts and several other charges from that case. 

Following his arraignment, Thompson was released on conditions including not being able to drive within eight hours of consuming alcohol. Thompson was convicted in 2013 for driving under the influence on Route 100 in 2012.

In an affidavit outlining the details of the March case, Vermont State Police Trooper Paul Pennoyer said that the Middlesex barracks received a report at approximately 4:15 p.m. on March 21 from Samantha Thompson, 30, of Stowe, who called to report that Shawn Thompson was intoxicated and driving from Stowe to his home in Duxbury. 

Pennoyer said he was parked in the driveway of Crossett Brook Middle School monitoring traffic on Route 100 when he saw a vehicle drive by matching the description of Thompson’s vehicle, a 2012 silver Toyota Tundra. The trooper said he pulled onto the highway behind the pickup and saw it was traveling at 56 mph in the 40 mph zone. Pennoyer said the vehicle also swerved over the fog line so he activated his blue lights and stopped the driver. Pennoyer wrote that he immediately recognized the smell of alcohol coming off of Thompson, the driver of the pickup. Pennoyer said Thompson’s eyes were bloodshot and watery, and his speech was slurred.

The trooper documented that Thompson told him he had drunk a glass of whiskey and a 16-ounce beer between noon and 2:30 p.m. Pennoyer said Thompson took a preliminary breath test which showed he had a blood alcohol level of 0.157%, nearly double the legal limit of 0.08%.

When Thompson was taken to the Middlesex barracks for processing, Pennoyer said the equipment for a follow-up breath test was not working. Pennoyer then transported Thompson to the Williston barracks for the test which was done a few minutes before 7 p.m. That test indicated a blood alcohol level of 0.157% as well, Pennoyer wrote. 

The following day, Pennoyer wrote in the affidavit that he called Samantha Thompson. “Samantha advised the defendant had come to her residence in Stowe to pick up their daughter, of whom they share custody,” Pennoyer wrote. “Samantha advised she had smelled alcohol on the defendant and believe[d] him to be impaired.”

Samantha Thompson told police that she would not let the child go with Shawn Thompson, and that she told him “she would be contacting law enforcement.” 

Also included in court documents was a second affidavit from Sarah Stratton, a forensic chemist with the Vermont Forensic Laboratory in Waterbury with expertise in analytical chemistry and blood alcohol physiology and pharmacology.  She stated that she performed calculations to estimate what Thompson’s blood alcohol level was at the time he was driving. Her affidavit states she believed it “would have been approximately 0.194” with a range between 0.182 and 0.231. 

Thompson began winter sports season - delayed and abbreviated due to COVID-19 precautions - as an assistant boys hockey coach. In February, he was promoted to replace previous head coach Jacob Grout who was fired after sending a text message containing expletives to the team. Grout has appealed his dismissal to the Harwood Union School Board.

Times Argus staff writer Eric Blaisdell contributed to this report.