That was a big freaking spider.
And there is nothing wrong with squashing it. We all kill all sorts of pests that invade our space, termites, ants, cockroaches, mice, etc. If the spider is poisonous or makes webs everywhere or causes fits of rampant arachnophobia in your spouse and it's in/on/at your residence killing it is not a problem. Some of you people are way off the deep end. I'm sure you've killed bugs before.