Driver who killed winemaker Neumeister pleads guilty

By Hawes Spencer |
Published online 12:59pm Wednesday Apr 13th, 2011
and in print issue #1016 dated Thursday Apr 21st, 2011

The man whose Earlysville Road car wreck killed motorcycling winemaker Dan Neumeister last fall has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and drunk driving charges, the Newsplex reports.

Fifty-eight-year-old William T. Thompson of Ruckersville made the plea Wednesday, April 13 in Albemarle Circuit Court, reports the Newsplex, noting that investigators found an empty pint of Jack Daniels along with a receipt for the whiskey's purchase in Thompson's briefcase– and that investigators even obtained surveillance-camera video showing Thompson shopping for liquor on the morning of the crash.

Neumeister, 31, was a newlywed and an award-winning winemaker. Ironically, he had also been such a stickler for motorcycle safety, that– as Lisa Provence reported after his death– he once adorned a sharp curve on another wreck-marred road with safety reflectors.

The crash that took Neumeister's life occurred under clear skies around 2pm on October 4. The Newsplex reports that sentencing for the out-on-bail Thompson has been set for August 30.

Read more on: Dan Neumeister

2 comments

bill sucks April 13th, 2011 | 7:05pm

i cannot believe they are gonna let that remorseless jerk walk around till the end of august. what a disgrace! if you pull out a gun and shoot someone you go right to jail. if you get hammered and run someone over with your car you get to walk around for almost a year? i hope he gets the maximum sentence.

bill sucks April 13th, 2011 | 7:07pm

and they definately should not have dropped some of the charges!!!!!!!