Officer Thompson and his partner, Ronald D. Florence, left Craig Airport in Jacksonville, Florida at 10:01 a.m. to pick up a prisoner in Panama City. Shortly after take-off, they lost the left engine. Attempting to make an open pasture about two miles from the airport, the airplane clipped a power pole and lines, crashed on the top of a closed business, and continued on into a stand of trees, killing both pilots and Warrants Detective Fred Lucy.