TULALIP — A 21-year-old Tulalip man was drunk in August when he drove his truck over a concrete barrier and into a pond, killing himself and three other young people, investigators have concluded.
The 1997 Dodge Ram had a lift kit and oversized tires that were nearly 3 feet tall. The truck went over a concrete barrier that was less than 11 inches tall.
Tyson Walker, 21, lost control in a downhill curve. He hit the barrier and knocked down a chain-link fence.
The tires rolled over the barrier, and gravity likely tipped the truck into the hatchery pond along Totem Beach Road, detectives found. In the water, the sinking truck became enmeshed in salmon netting designed to protect the fish from birds.
A man saw the truck upside down in the water around 3 a.m. and called police.
Investigators do not believe that speed was a factor, according to a report by George Metcalf, a collision detective with the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office.
“The cause of this collision was most likely due to alcohol intoxication,” Metcalf wrote.
Metcalf’s report was obtained by The Daily Herald under state public records laws. It took the sheriff’s office nearly two months since the Oct. 2 request to provide the seven-page document.
After the Aug. 18 collision, police would not say who had been driving. Also killed were Ariela Vendiola, 15, of Marysville; Lynnishia Larson, 16, of Marysville; and Dylan Monger, 22, of Tulalip. All were current or former students in the Marysville School District. They all drowned, the medical examiner determined.
Sheriff’s detectives found an empty vodka bottle, a beer bottle, a beer can and a small amount of marijuana in the truck, including two stubs from marijuana cigarettes.
The truck went off a bridge on the Tulalip Indian Reservation that overlooks Tulalip Bay. The bridge crosses between two hatchery ponds.
The retaining wall varies in height and measured 10.6 inches in the spot where the truck climbed onto the sidewalk and fell over the wall. Eighty feet away, the barrier is nearly double that height.
An 18-year-old woman later told investigators that earlier in the evening she saw the four who died. She, Ariela and Lynnishia met the men at a beach area in Silvana around 9 p.m., she said. The young people were sharing vodka, beer and marijuana. The truck carrying the four left around 2 a.m.
Walker was driving when the 18-year-old last saw the group in the truck. Monger was in the passenger seat, and the two girls were in back.
The weather was clear in the early hours of Aug. 18, and it was too warm for the road to be icy, Metcalf wrote. The truck was registered to Walker. A mechanical inspection found no serious problems that weren’t the result of the crash, and the brakes were in good condition.
At the highest point of the lift kit, the truck’s suspension system measured 18.5 inches above the ground. The size of the tires “would have most certainly changed the center of gravity on the vehicle and increased the chance of rollovers,” Metcalf said. The tires also had been designed to bounce over bumpy surfaces, he said.
The truck had been eastbound down the hill, approaching a stop sign west of the bridge. Walker likely lost control as he passed the stop sign.
That stretch of the road is maintained by the Tulalip Tribes, which also own the ponds. Tribal officials declined to comment for this story.
The sheriff’s office investigates most fatal crashes on the reservation, as the sheriff has a team of detectives who specialize in collision reconstruction.
Walker’s blood-alcohol content after his death was measured at .12, above the legal limit of .08. Two of the other young people in the car tested positive for marijuana and all of them had been drinking.
Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com.
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