AUSTIN, Texas — A man who was arrested after a deadly hit-and-run in Downtown Austin during South by Southwest has now been charged with murder, according to court documents.
Tyrone Thompson, 23, allegedly hit two pedestrians at East Seventh and Red River streets on Tuesday, March 12. He was later arrested following a separate crash.
Thompson was charged with murder on Friday, March 29.
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.
Roughly an hour later, 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 reportedly 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 the murder charge, he is facing 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.