Criminal law

South Dakota Police Declare Dead Body Found In Car Trunk “Suspicious”

800-1Tosten Walsh Lommen, 30, was looking at a serious series of charges after driving drunk and taking South Dakota police on a high-speed chase. However, it became far, far worse when the arresting officers opened his trunk and found a dead woman wrapped in a blanket.  The initial charges included a charge that may not be familiar to many on the blog: aggravated eluding.

Trooper Jeremy Biegert initiated the chase after seeing Lommen driving over 100 mph on I-90.  Lommen reached speeds of 118 mph before police took out his two front tires with a spike strip. Lommen then ran for it but was pulled off a chain link fence.

One could fairly observe that, when you have a body in the trunk, you might not want to speed.  Indeed, in the movie Pulp Fiction, one of the most curious decisions of the “The Wolf” was to go through all of the trouble of disguising a car with a dead man inside but then tell Travolta and Jackson that he likes to drive really fast (even to the location where he wanted to dispose of the car and body):

 

Of course, Winston Wolffe was not drunk to the tune of 0.142 (as was Lommen).

The charge of aggravated evading is found in the following provision:

     32-33-18.2.   Aggravated eluding law enforcement officer as felony–Enhanced penalties. Any driver of a vehicle who flees from a law enforcement officer or attempts to elude the pursuit of a law enforcement officer is guilty of aggravated eluding if, at any time during the flight or pursuit, the driver operates the vehicle in a manner that constitutes an inherent risk of death or serious bodily injury to any third person.
     Aggravated eluding is a Class 6 felony. In addition, the court may order that the defendant’s driver’s license be revoked for up to one year, but may issue an order, upon proof of financial responsibility pursuant to § 32-35-43.1, allowing the defendant to operate a vehicle for purposes of the defendant’s employment, attendance at school, or counseling programs. For any subsequent aggravated eluding violation, the court shall order that the defendant’s driver’s license be revoked for five years.
Source: SL 2006, ch 171, § 3.

Lommen’s bond was set at $2.5 million.

In one on the most understated official statements, the police have declared the death of the woman wrapped in a blanket in the trunk of the guy speeding at 118 miles an hour “suspicious.”

 

Kudos: Professor Roger E. Schechter

10 thoughts on “South Dakota Police Declare Dead Body Found In Car Trunk “Suspicious””

  2. South Dakota Police Declare Dead Body Found In Car Trunk “Suspicious”
    How did the FBI miss the hotbed of recruting opportunity at the SDPD?

  3. If all or most of the above reports about this guy are true, he really needs a “tune up” in prison.

  6. Here is some more on Mr. Lommen:

    he man who was found with a body in his vehicle after a high-speed chase in western South Dakota had a restraining order against him.

    According to documents obtained by KSFY News, an adult woman filed the restraining order against Tosten David Walsh Lommen of Santa Cruz, California on November 30, 2015.

    The woman said she used to live with and date Lommen. She did not want him to contact or touch herself, two family members or a friend in any way.

    Lommen was to stay at least 100 yards away from her home, workplace and vehicle in addition to herself, the family members and friend.

    She also asked for the rights to record any instances where Lommen tried to communicate with her.

    The woman said Lommen needed “to go to a rehabilitation facility and regularly attend AA meetings and stay clean and sober for at least a year before contact,” according to the restraining order.

    She also described two instances where Lommen allegedly abused her.

    During an incident in April 2015 described in the documents, the woman said Lommen hit her with a broom, threatened her with a weed whacker and threw her down the stairs before dousing her and her home with gasoline and threatening to light a fire. She received bruises and scratches from the incident.

    During another incident in June 2013 described in the documents, the woman said she and Lommen traveled to Las Vegas where he allegedly beat her up and broke her collar bone after throwing a chair at her. She additionally received a black eye and some cuts and bruises.

    The woman also described an incident from November 19, 2015 where she was not present. According to documents, Lommen was stopped by authorities for driving erratically and was arrested. Police found multiple weapons in the vehicle and the woman’s old driver’s license.

    He allegedly told officers he believed ISIS had killed the woman, though she said they had spoken the week before, according to the restraining order. Officers released Lommen and confirmed with the woman’s family that she was alive.

    The woman also said Lommen had previously cut her with broken glass, poured hot oil on her, choked her until she passed out and held a gun to head.

    Authorities have not confirmed to KSFY News if the woman who filed the restraining order was the person found dead in Lommen’s car.

    http://www.ksfy.com/content/news/Man-stopped-in-South-Dakota-with-body-in-his-car-had-restraining-order-467929043.html

    Squeeky Fromm
    Girl Reporter

  7. The woman whose body was found might have crawled in there just to get out of the cold (after all it was in S. Dakota)… and then died of exposure. Just sayin’.

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