Pierce County man charged with second-degree assault after 2017 murder count dismissed

A man is facing second-degree assault charges for his involvement in a fight in Steilacoom in 2017.

Tyler James Thiel, then 23, was accused of killing his mother’s boyfriend on the Fourth of July three years ago. Charges were dropped when Pierce County Medical Examiner ruled the cause of death to be “undetermined.”

Thiel was charged on June 26 of this year with second-degree assault in the incident that ended with 52-year-old Stephen Gale’s death, court records show. He was arrested on July 5 and is being held on a $1 million bail. He is to be arraigned on Thursday, July 9.

On July 4, 2017, Gale died in the yard of his home on Lafayette Street. Thiel, whose mother was dating Gale, was charged with second-degree murder in the case a few days after Gale’s death.

Charging papers from the 2017 incident say Thiel’s mother called 911 and told the operator that Gale was “down and hurt.” Gale died despite efforts to revive him by responding officers.

Police who arrested Thiel in Puyallup on July 5, 2017 saw blood on Thiel’s hands and clothes. Thiel told investigators that he had wanted to leave Gale’s home and Thiel’s mother wanted him to stay, resulting in a physical fight with Gale. Thiel said Gale was alive when he left the yard where he and Gale had fought.

In his motion to dismiss the murder charges against Thiel on Aug. 28, 2017, deputy prosecutor Jared Ausserer wrote, “Aside from the temporal relationship between the physical altercation and death, there is no resulting injury that caused the death.”

Ausserer reported that Pierce County medical examiners found that Gale’s death was caused by either loss of blood or a heart attack, but that it was not possible to determine which one. Ausserer wrote that a heart attack was the likelier cause, given that Gale’s heart had 75 percent blockage.

Prosecutors had the option to refile charges later against Thiel because Superior Court Judge Stephanie Arend agreed to dismiss the murder count without prejudice.

The charging papers from June 26 of this year report Gale had blunt-force trauma injuries, a severe nose fracture and facial injuries consistent with being stomped on, according to Dr. Thomas Clark of the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Thiel has a prior conviction for fourth-degree assault for pushing his mother during an argument about a mental health appointment, according to court records.

This story was originally published July 9, 2020 at 5:00 AM.