Parchment AD sentenced for misdemeanors

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOOD) - The Parchment schools administrator who led police on high-speed chase before being arrested on drunk driving charges has been sentenced after pleading guilty to two misdemeanors.

John Thompson was sentenced to 45 days in jail and 18 months of probation for a charge of attempted fleeing or eluding of a police officer and a charge of reckless driving.

The judge ordered Thompson to turn himself into the jail by 5 p.m. Friday.

In October, a jury found Thompson guilty of misdemeanor operating while intoxicated with a high blood alcohol content -- the state's "super drunk" law. But the jury deadlocked on whether he was guilty of felony fleeing and eluding police.

The jury deadlocked on that charge after Thompson testified that he was so drunk on the night of April 4 that he couldn't remember leading Richland police on a chase that reached speeds in excess of 125 mph, pulling over for officers or being ordered to the ground at gunpoint.

His blood alcohol content level at the time was .25 -- more than three times the legal limit of .08, police records show.

Thompson's attorney argued the prosecution had to prove that Thompson knew he was being chased -- and if he was too drunk to know the police were after him, then he was not guilty of that charge.

Rather than being retried on the felony fleeing and eluding charge, Thompson agreed to plead guilty to two lesser misdemeanor charges.