A 9-year-old boy killed in a suspected drunken driving crash over the weekend has been identified as Donovan Best.
The boy was taken off life support Sunday night and died at Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital in Tacoma.
Authorities said the boy’s 26-year-old uncle, who was driving when the car flipped, is still in the hospital and will not be charged until he is booked into the Pierce County Jail.
The uncle is reportedly on suicide watch.
It was about 1:30 a.m. Saturday when the uncle lost control of his 1990 Acura Integra as he tried to exit Purdy Drive to state Route 302. The car flipped, throwing the uncle and his 9-year-old nephew from the car.
The boy was sitting in the front passenger seat. Neither was wearing a seat belt, according to the Washington State Patrol.
A young girl in the back seat buckled herself in when she got in the car and was not injured in the crash. She was able to flag down a passing car and get help for her family.
The uncle admitted smoking marijuana and drinking heavily before getting behind the wheel, trooper Guy Gill said. He was allegedly twice over the legal alcohol limit.
The girl told troopers she and her brother were yelling for their uncle to slow down just before he lost control of the car, Gill said.
The uncle is expected to be charged with vehicular homicide.
“It’s awful. It’s the most horrific thing that I could ever imagine a family going through,” Donovan’s aunt, Karrie Lewandowski, told KIRO-TV.
“A mistake was made. Unfortunately, it is a tragic mistake. There’s nothing we can do to fix it now,” said the boy’s uncle, Dale Lewandowski.
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