State trooper who told off Washington Gov. Jay Inslee over vaccine mandate dies from COVID

By Edward Era Barbacena

A former Washington State white Patrol trooper who told off Gov. Jay Inslee over the COVID-19 vaccine mandate, resigned and then became a sought-after media figure, has died, according to the State Patrol.

Trooper Robert LaMay's death was announced Friday. He was 50.

According to FOX News, KIRO News Radio, Newsweek and other media sources, LaMay died after contracting COVID-19.

His former boss, State Patrol Chief John Batiste, said he was deeply saddened to hear of LaMay's death Friday.

"Rob served honorably for over two decades and we were disappointed to see him leave the agency this past October," Batiste said. "His service to this state and agency will be long remembered and appreciated."

LaMay took early retirement in October rather than get vaccinated.

A video shows him giving his final radio call in which he tells Inslee to "kiss my a--." The video went viral and LaMay soon was appearing on numerous news outlets.

No statement from his family has been issued.

Last summer, LaMay had said he and his family did not "do" vaccines and he never received any as an adult. In August, on his Facebook account, he said vaccines go against his religious beliefs. His account is no longer visible.

While 73 other commissioned officers quit the State Patrol over the mandate, none received the media celebrity status LaMay did. On Jan. 12, Jerrod Sessler, a Prosser businessman running for Congress in Washington's 4th District, announced that LaMay had endorsed him.

"Mr. Lamay took the hearts of Americans by storm when he resigned from his position as a state trooper because he refused to succumb to the mandates enforced upon him by a constitutionally over-extended governor," Sessler said.

Sessler said he would appoint LaMay to head an anti-human-trafficking task force he would commission.

In the endorsement, LaMay accuses state politicians of ignoring human trafficking. He went on to say, "many of whom are involved in it themselves and do not want it to go away."

LaMay joined the State Patrol in 1999 as a trooper cadet. He was commissioned in 2001.

The trooper served in Poulsbo, Bremerton, Ellensburg and, most recently, Yakima. He worked as an armorer, collision reconstructionist and as a drug recognition expert.

LaMay's is the not the first high profile death to affect the State Patrol. Trooper Eric Gunderson died Sept. 26 after contracting COVID while on business for the agency six weeks earlier.

The trooper was 38 and unvaccinated but his family said he would have followed the mandate.

"It is important for everyone to know, he was not a part of any anti-vaccine or political movement," Gunderson's family said in a statement.

To date, 10,699 Washington residents have died of COVID.