AUSTIN, Texas — The man accused of hitting and killing two pedestrians in Downtown Austin in March is now facing a series of indictments.
The Travis County District Attorney's Office announced Wednesday that a grand jury has returned three indictments against 23-year-old Tyrone Thompson. The first two indictments include four counts: murder, intoxication manslaughter, manslaughter and collision involving death. The third indictment is for obstruction or retaliation.
Thompson's cases will be prosecuted in the 450th Judicial Court for Travis County.
"The Travis County District Attorney’s Office takes the work of presenting all facts and evidence to a grand jury very seriously," Travis County District Attorney José Garza said in a statement. "In this case, a group of independent Travis County community members heard the evidence and law and decided there was probable cause to believe Mr. Thompson's conduct was unlawful."
Background on this case
Thompson allegedly hit two pedestrians, Cody Shelton and William Dunham, at East Seventh and Red River streets on Tuesday, March 12.
Court documents say a pair of Austin Police Department officers were on patrol downtown early that morning. The officers saw a car in a parking lot and said the people inside were involved in drug activity and violent crimes. The car then left the parking lot, and officers noticed it had a faulty headlight.
The documents state that the officers attempted a traffic stop, but as they approached the car, it drove off and continued eastbound on East Seventh Street. The driver – later identified as Thompson – allegedly continued to evade officers, running red lights in the process.
One of those red lights was at East Seventh and Red River streets, where the car hit two pedestrians in the crosswalk at around 1 a.m. One of the victims, 26-year-old Cody Shelton, died at the scene.
On April 16, the other victim, 34-year-old William Dunham, died after initially suffering critical injuries in the crash.
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Roughly an hour after allegedly hitting Shelton and Dunham, court documents show that Thompson was involved in a separate crash on Wolfe Lane in Del Valle. Deputies from the Travis County Sheriff's Office and the Bastrop County Sheriff's Office responded to the crash.
A Bastrop County deputy said when they arrived at the scene, Thompson got out of the car's driver's seat. A Travis County deputy reported that when they attempted to conduct a field investigation, Thompson was noncompliant. The deputy also reported that they could smell alcohol on Thompson's breath and that Thompson was swaying and exaggerating his movements.
The court documents state that Thompson claimed he hadn't been driving the car and his mother had just dropped him off. But when the Travis County deputy called Thompson's mother, she did not corroborate his claims.
The Travis County deputy reported that based on Thompson's behavior and his performance on a field sobriety test, he was intoxicated. When the deputy attempted to arrest Thompson for DWI, he began pulling away, kicking and hitting the deputies, according to the documents.
With the help of three deputies and three firefighters, Thompson was eventually handcuffed. But as authorities attempted to put Thompson in a patrol unit, he allegedly continued to resist, pushing back against the deputies and putting his foot against the unit's frame to avoid being placed inside.
Deputies later found a bottle of tequila in the passenger floorboard of Thompson's car and a loaded gun in the backseat. Court documents also state that it's believed Thompson was under the influence of methamphetamine and/or crack cocaine, in addition to alcohol.
Thompson was booked into the Travis County Jail. In addition to a murder charge in Shelton's death, he faced five charges: accident involving death, a second-degree felony; obstruction or retaliation, a third-degree felony; driving while intoxicated, a Class B misdemeanor; and resisting arrest and unlawful carry of a weapon, both Class A misdemeanors.
On April 19, court documents revealed that Thompson had been charged with a second count of murder in relation to Dunham's death.