Six people who died in a two-car wreck at a state Route 509 intersection on Tacoma's Tideflats have been identified. All were from Arizona.
The Pierce County medical examiner has yet to publicly identify the victims, but relatives of those killed have started fundraisers through GoFundMe to raise money to help with the cost of bringing their remains home and for funeral arrangements.
The victims were packed into a Kia Forte on Sunday morning traveling on Alexander Avenue when a white BMW SUV going north on the highway struck the Kia at the intersection, according to the Washington State Patrol. The impact caused the Kia to roll and catch fire. Troopers said five people died at the scene, and one died either at a hospital or en route.
One person in the Kia, a 21-year-old Phoenix man, survived the crash and was in critical condition at the St. Joseph Medical Center on Sunday evening. The two people in the BMW, a 42-year-old man and a 40-year-old woman, were transported to St. Joseph, where they were in stable condition Sunday. Both were from Tacoma. Those killed were:
It's unclear who was at fault in the collision. The State Patrol said a driver failed to stop for a red light, and speeding was a factor, but which vehicle didn't stop isn't known. It's also unknown whether any of the nine people involved was wearing seat belts. Troopers have sought witnesses and any dash-camera video of the incident.
The intersection is split into two stop lights for northbound and southbound traffic on State Route 509, which is a divided highway through that stretch. Trooper John Dattilo said the victim's vehicle was coming from the Tideflats when it went through the first light, then into the northbound lanes at the next light, where it was T-boned by the BMW. He said no one was ejected from the Kia, and the fire that ignited soon afterward didn't spread from the engine to the passenger's compartment.
Sunday's wreck is the deadliest the state has seen in 22 years. On the same day in 2001, July 16, six people were killed in a single-car crash on 15th Street Southwest in Auburn when the vehicle swerved, went off the roadway and struck a support pillar for a ramp, according to The News Tribune's archives.
The two crashes appear to be tied for the grim record of second-most fatalities in a traffic incident since 1994, as far back as the Washington Traffic Safety Commission's records go, senior research associate Max Roberts told The News Tribune. In that year, a crash in Chelan County claimed 11 lives.
In 2001, the commission said the Auburn crash was believed to be the deadliest single-car crash in state history, not counting a 1945 incident where a school bus plunged into Lake Chelan, killing 16.
A new interchange is planned to eventually replace the Alexander Avenue and State Route 509 intersection as part of the Department of Transportation's $367 million 167 Completion Project. It will create a 2-mile-long tolled expressway connecting the Port of Tacoma with State Route 167. Construction began in July last year, and the improvements, which include three new interchanges, are expected to be complete by fall 2026.
Since 2014, the Alexander Avenue and State Route 509 intersection has typically seen about 11 collisions a year, and only one other has been fatal during that time, according to data from the Washington State Department of Transportation. In that time period it saw the most wrecks in 2020, with 22.
