Pierce County prosecutors have charged a 23-year-old man in a Christmas Day car crash that killed two women, saying the man was driving too fast for the snowy and icy conditions.

Earlier this month, prosecutors charged Lyle C. Painter IV with two counts of vehicular homicide and two counts of vehicular assault. Prosecutors allege he was driving recklessly and without regard to public safety.

Jennifer Ussery, 36, and her stepmother, Dorothy Jones-Ussery, 74, died of injuries suffered in the crash. Painter was not hurt.

They were passengers in a station wagon that was having trouble pulling out of a driveway in the 7100 block of 299th Street South in the Roy area because of the snow. After the car made it onto the road, Painter’s pickup hit it, court papers state.

The car’s four occupants were hurt. Ussery was taken to Madigan Army Medical Center and was pronounced dead. Jones-Ussery was taken to St. Joseph Medical Center and died Jan. 12.

Court documents state that the driver of the station wagon didn’t see Painter’s truck as it crested a hill.

Investigators downloaded information from the truck’s on-board computer. The data showed that Painter was going 63 mph two seconds before the crash and 45 mph 0.1 seconds before his airbag deployed.

“Reconstruction calculations show that the defendant was 246 feet from the point of impact when he reacted to the Ussery vehicle ahead of him,” charging documents state.

“The posted speed limit on 299th is 35 m.p.h. If traveling at the posted speed limit and confronted with the same potential hazard, the defendant should have been able to stop his vehicle 95 feet prior to the Usserys’ driveway.”

Stacey Mulick: 253-597-8268

stacey.mulick@thenewstribune.com

blog.thenewstribune.com/crime