He drove drunk and killed a beloved grandfather heading to work. Here’s his sentence
A Puyallup man who pleaded guilty to causing a fatal hit-and-run crash with a motorcyclist while driving drunk in September has been sentenced to more than eight years in prison.
On Tuesday, Pierce County Superior Court Judge Joseph Evans exceeded the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office recommendation in handing down a 100-month sentence to Timothy R. Waldroop, 30, for DUI vehicular homicide and fatal hit-and-run charges stemming from the death of 51-year-old William R. Laver of Grapeview, according to court documents. As a part of the plea agreement, prosecutors recommended 86 months, dropped an allegation that Waldroop drove recklessly when he killed Laver and dismissed an April DUI case against him in District Court.
Laver’s friends and family members sent a letter to Evans earlier this month asking for a harsher sentence than stipulated in Waldroop’s plea deal, according to court records. They remembered Laver as a lively man with a huge heart for family, including six children and two young grandchildren.
Laver grew up in Wyoming and Utah, deployed to the Persian Gulf during his Navy career and went on to work as a BNSF conductor and engineer, according to the letters and an online obituary. He was on his way to work when Waldroop struck his motorcycle.
“Bill was the sun we orbited around,” his mother wrote. “He was smart, loving, had a snarky wit and gave hugs that I wish I could dream about but cannot ...”
Laver’s last Navy assignment was aboard the John C. Stennis in Bremerton, according to an obituary. He was recognized with the Look Ahead leadership award while in Kitsap County and retired in 2010.
His niece recalled a photo of Laver from the ‘80s in her living room.
“He’s shirtless, with long dark hair. He’s wearing jeans and boots, leaning against a wooden fence, looking out at Boar’s Tusk in Wyoming,” she wrote. “He wanted to recreate it with my husband, a photographer, taking the photo. He never got the chance.”
In 2020, Laver purchased his first Harley Davidson motorcycle and joined a motorcycle club for combat veterans, according to the obituary.
“It truly was what (he) was missing in his life,” the obituary said.
According to charging documents, state troopers determined Waldroop drove his Jeep in the wrong direction onto eastbound state Route 16 from Interstate 5 at about 12:23 a.m. on Sept. 16. Laver attempted to swerve around the Jeep but crashed into it head-on.
Waldroop’s Jeep then struck a Mercedes sedan head-on before coming to a stop, leaving the driver with minor injuries, charging papers show. Motorists who stopped to help people injured in the crash reported that Waldroop smelled of alcohol and ran off after hearing Laver died at the scene.
Waldroop turned himself in the following afternoon, according to charging documents.
His mother and other loved ones also submitted letters to Evans attesting to his character. The mother said her son has struggled with his mental health and recently started alcohol-abuse treatment.
“There hasn’t been a day that has gone by without his expressing regret for what happened,” Waldroop’s mother wrote.
