Bradenton man gets prison for fatal crash. Police say he was high on nitrous oxide

A Bradenton man has been sentenced to prison after police say he huffed nitrous oxide and then hit and killed a motorcyclist in Sarasota while driving with a suspended license in 2021.

Jordan Schopfer, 32, is sentenced to 15 years and 5 months in the Department of Corrections after he pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide and driving with a suspended license on Nov. 3, Sarasota Police Department said in a news release Monday.

The fatal wreck happened on June 12, 2021. Police said Schopfer was driving a Toyota Corolla north on Beneva Road when his car drifted over the median and into the southbound lanes, where it struck a 60-year-old Sarasota man on a motorcycle.

Citing Marsy’s Law, a Florida law that prevents the release of a victim’s identifying information, the police department has not named the motorcyclist.

At the time, traffic homicide investigators said they developed probable cause that Schopfer had “huffed or snorted” nitrous oxide to “get high” before the crash.

Police said that “a can of compressed air and a receipt with a purchase time of 12 minutes before the crash occurred” were found inside Schopfer’s car, as well as “a bag that had a restaurant-style whipping container inside.”

Schopfer was also captured on a store surveillance camera purchasing a can of compressed air in the same clothes that he was wearing at the time of the crash, police said.

Police said surveillance footage also showed Schopfer almost hitting a pedestrian and rear-ending another vehicle in the parking lot.

In 2021, his license was suspended for a prior DUI with personal injury, and police said he was also on probation for arson charges.

U.S. Marshals arrested Schopfer in November 2021.