SEATTLE — The Washington State Patrol (WSP) made a $1.3 million payment to a trucker that a WSP sergeant falsely accused of causing a crash in 2022.
The payment and a written apology from the WSP chief settled a potential lawsuit from commercial truck driver Shawn Foutch of Snohomish.
Foutch was injured in the Aug. 12, 2022 collision on Interstate 5 in north Seattle, as was the rookie WSP trooper that hit Foutch’s big rig, Phirawat Apisit. Foutch was making his routine midnight run with a load of U.S. mail, when Apisit’s patrol cruiser crossed several lanes of the highway into the path of Foutch’s truck. State patrol reports say the young trooper was attempting a “rolling slowdown” of highway traffic because of a hazard ahead.
Months after the crash, Foutch received a citation for “negligent driving second degree.” It’s not a criminal charge, but it is a significant infraction for a professional driver whose job depends on a clean driving record.
In April of 2022, the KING 5 Investigators revealed that the state patrol sergeant ignored evidence clearly showing the rookie trooper was at fault for the accident. A 12-second video clip from Foutch’s dash camera shows the patrol car zipping across several lanes of I-5 as Foutch attempts to move left out of the vehicle’s path. Further, WSP’s expert crash investigator determined Apisit caused the crash and advised investigators not to cite Foutch.
However, the citation hung over the trucker’s head for several long months until the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office dismissed the case following KING 5’s questions.
“KING 5 News broke the story and made them stop and go, ‘Oh wait, there’s people looking at this. Maybe we should take a step back,’” Foutch said after the $1.3 million settlement was signed May 14.
Late last year, veteran sergeant Thomas “TJ” Johnson retired from the patrol rather than face the possibility of punishment following a lengthy internal investigation.
“We were wrong and we’re sorry,” WSP spokesperson Chris Loftis said.
Loftis said Johnson pursued the case and pushed it with prosecutors even though there was clear evidence of Foutch’s innocence.
Newly released state patrol records requested by KING 5 show that Johnson’s lieutenant, Peter A. Cozzitorto, was also investigated and disciplined in the case. He received a written reprimand for a lack of oversight in the investigation.
Foutch said the $1.3 million settlement “…is great but it’s not everything. I wanted an apology more than anything else.” He wanted it to come from the patrol’s top cop. And he got that. In a signed letter addressed to Foutch, WSP Chief John R. Batiste wrote to “…express my sincerest apologies” for the “reprehensible” handling of his case and the “...potential harm to your reputation and good standing as a professional driver.”
Foutch has mostly recovered from his injuries but still has not yet returned to truck driving.