Pierce County prosecutors have charged an 18-year-old man with vehicular homicide after he drove a car that crashed and killed an 18-year-old Kent man along Highway 410 east of Enumclaw.
Bryson A. Stubbles, pleaded not guilty last week in Pierce County Superior Court to one count of vehicular homicide and three counts of vehicular assault. He remained in custody on Monday at the Pierce County Main Jail in Tacoma with bail set at $100,000, according to jail records. He is scheduled to return to court on Oct. 20 for a pre-trial conference.
Prosecutors say Stubbles drove the 1990 Honda Accord that went off the road, smashed into a tree and killed Paco Frees, of Kent, the right front passenger, and injured three other passengers.
The single-car crash occurred at about 2:38 a.m. on Oct. 2 near Greenwater. The group had attended a bonfire party and were westbound on Highway 410 when the car left the roadway, went over an embankment and struck a tree with the passenger side of the car, according to a State Patrol accident report. Frees died at the accident site.
A trooper contacted Stubbles in the back of an aid car and noticed the odor of alcohol coming from him, according to charging papers. A State Patrol detective talked to Stubbles at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Stubbles told the detective he had consumed one Steel Reserve 211, a malt liquor, and no more than three shots of Bacardi rum at the bonfire. He also said he had smoked marijuana earlier in the day.
One of Stubbles’ friends asked him at the bonfire party if he was good to drive and Stubbles said, “I think so,” according to charging papers. Stubbles said he estimated he was driving 25 to 30 mph when he crashed. He said he leaned to his right to hear a conversation between Frees and a 16-year-old girl. As he leaned, his right hand was on the steering wheel and caused the car to veer right.
Stubbles said he steered back to the left and reported hitting a large pothole before he lost control of the vehicle.
A 20-year-old Spanaway man suffered a broken wrist, fractured femur, a broken back and a broken pelvis, according to charging papers. An 18-year-old Puyallup man suffered a fractured femur, cuts on his head and foot, a fractured metatarsal bone and multiple cuts. The girl suffered a fractured pelvis.
Prosecutors are waiting for the toxicology results from the State Patrol crime lab to determine the blood-alcohol content of Stubbles. A trooper received a search warrant to draw blood from Stubbles while he was at Harborview for treatment of his injuries.
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