*UPDATE*
On 01-21-2024, at 11:02am, the suspect in the white van was located by Eatonville Police and called in to Deputies. Deputies detained the man without incident and he was booked into Pierce County Jail for two Domestic Violence Warrants and Possession of a Dangerous Weapon (Brass Knuckles). The Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office will be reviewing the collision case to determine if charges will be filed from his involvement in the fatal collision.
The white van was impounded as evidence.
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ORIGINAL POST
At 5:42 pm, on Wednesday January 17th deputies and firefighters responded to a three car collision at the 5600 block of 176th St E in Fredrickson.
Deputies were told a white Subaru was driving at a high rate of speed and went through a red light on 70th Ave E and ran a red light at this intersection while a pickup truck had a green light and was making a legal U-turn. The truck struck the driver’s side of the Subaru and a white van that had been following the Subaru collided into the Subaru before fleeing.
The driver of the Subaru, a 26-yr-old female, was seriously injured. Her mother, a 64-yr-old female, was the rear passenger and was pronounced deceased at the scene. Neither one of the women were wearing a seatbelt.
The driver of the white van called in to report he had been chasing his “stolen” Subaru when it crashed into the pickup truck. Deputies asked the man to come back to the scene so they could speak to him. After he didn’t show up he called back and claimed his van had been stolen and he could not return.
The driver of the Subaru was transported to the hospital with serious injuries and is now facing possible charges for Vehicular Homicide. The driver of the pickup truck, a 41-year-old man, was uninjured and neither was his two-year-old child who was in a car seat.
Another family member arrived on scene and advised the woman had been driving the Subaru for a few weeks and was not stolen. The woman and the registered owner had an argument right before she took the car and drove away. The man was chasing her and was also witnessed driving at a high rate of speed. Deputies have his information and we need him to come forward, he is currently facing felony hit and run charges.
This is the 1st Homicide of the year for the Sheriff’s Department.