Washington Woman’s BAC Was Three Times the Limit When She Ran Over Her Friend; She'll Spend Years in Prison

Posted

A woman who hit and killed her friend while driving under the influence in Lakewood has been sentenced, according to court records.

Diane Elizabeth Chapman, 31, pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide and felony driving under the influence Tuesday.

Superior Court Judge Clarence Henderson Jr. sentenced her to two years in prison.

"During an attack by a man who had followed me home, I put my car in reverse and began backing up without looking, or knowing who was behind my vehicle," part of the plea statement said. "While doing so I struck and killed my friend Madeline Ramirez who had gotten out of my car to defend me."

Charging papers gave this account of what happened Dec. 9, 2019:

Police responded near 86th Street Southwest and Edgewater Drive Southwest and found Chapman kneeling over 57-year-old Ramirez, who was seriously injured.

Ramirez was taken to the hospital and died later that month.



Investigators noticed Chapman smelled of alcohol and kept getting sidetracked as she told them what happened.

Her breath samples registered at 0.277/0.284, above the legal limit of 0.08.

Investigators said the straightest account they got after trying to speak with Chapman was that the women had been at a bar and went back to Chapman's home. Then a man Chapman knew who might have been jealous another man had flirted with her followed them into the driveway. He came up to the vehicle, grabbed Chapman's phone and threw it at a neighbor's yard.

The man told investigators Ramirez got out and approached him, they argued, and as he walked to his vehicle he heard Chapman reverse and Ramirez yell that she'd hit her. Prosecutors wrote the court in a statement Tuesday that the man gave different versions of what happened when he was interviewed.

"Although certain facts are known, and can be proved through the law enforcement investigation, what happened when Ms. Ramirez was knocked down and ran over remains uncertain," the statement said.

Chapman had a DUI charge in Lakewood Municipal Court from an incident that happened a month before, and she had two out-of-state "alcohol-related driving offenses" from 2007, prosecutors wrote.