TACOMA, WA -At 12:56 a.m. on Sunday, December 20, 2020, our traffic investigators and deputies with the University Place Police Department responded to a two-vehicle collision in the 6700 blocks of 35th St. W. in University Place.
“One of our deputies was on another call of a disturbance at a party a very short distance away along 35th St. and was able to quickly arrive on scene,” the Pierce County Sherrif’s Office said. “The first deputy found a heavily damaged blue Mazda 3 off the side of the roadway; inside the vehicle was a single occupant who was unresponsive and critically injured.”
The 19-year-old female driver of the Mazda died at the scene.
Approximately one block east, the deputy located a heavily damaged silver Cadillac STS that was unoccupied. Inside the Cadillac, deputies observed a single black shoe on the floor of the driver’s side as well as evidence indicating that the involved driver was injured prior to fleeing the scene. Neighbors reported hearing the collision and seeing several additional vehicles stop, and said they then heard yelling about getting out of there.
Our deputies contacted the registered owner of the Cadillac and learned that their son was injured and at an area hospital. Deputies responded to hospital, where they observed that the suspected driver was in possession of a single shoe which appeared to match the shoe found in the Cadillac. Deputies obtained a blood draw search warrant for the 17 year old male suspect; the investigation is ongoing.