A 23-year-old Tacoma woman is suspected of driving under the influence with her baby in the car during a wrong-way crash that killed two U.S. Army soldiers and injuring another Sunday.
Candy Soita was charged with two counts of vehicular homicide and one count of vehicular assault for the crash that happened on westbound state Route 512 in Pierce County. The crash led to the deaths of Charles T Fairbairn, 29 of Georgia, and Wendell T Cerio, 22 of Arizona.
A 22-year-old man was also a passenger in the car that carried Fairbairn and Cerio. He survived his injuries. All three men were soldiers stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, a previous News Tribune story reported.
A plea of not guilty was entered on Soita's behalf during her arraignment on Wednesday at Pierce County Superior Court. Court Commissioner Barbara McInvaille set her bail at $500,000, court records show.
Charging documents show that a Washington State Patrol trooper was dispatched to a wrong-way vehicle crash at 2:04 a.m. There was a vehicle in a ditch on westbound 512 and a Chrysler that was rolled over.
Cerio was lying on the right side of the roadway. He was determined to be the passenger in the Chrysler. Cerio was bleeding and unresponsive. Lifesaving measures were attempted, but he was dead at the scene, prosecutors wrote.
The 22-year-old man who was a surviving passenger in the Chrysler was visually distraught. He told the trooper that he and Cerio were sleeping in the backseat. They were returning to JBLM at the time, documents show.
Fairbairn was in the driver's seat and was partially ejected. He was unresponsive and confirmed to be deceased at the scene, prosecutors wrote. Soita was in and out of consciousness. Her 1-year-old daughter was also in the vehicle.
Investigators learned that Soita was traveling the wrong way on state Route 512 when she crashed into the Chrysler head on. Soita was taken to Tacoma General and her daughter was taken to Mary Bridge Children's Hospital where troopers learned she sustained a fractured hand, prosecutors wrote.
A trooper contacted Soita at the hospital and said there was the odor of intoxicants coming from her breath. Her eyes were bloodshot and watery. Soita told the trooper she was driving home. When he asked her how much alcohol she had to drink, Soita allegedly counted to the number four out loud using her fingers, prosecutors wrote.
Soita voluntarily provided a Preliminary Breath Test sample of 0.097 about four hours after the crash, documents show. The legal limit in Washington is .08.
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