Seizure-prone man off his meds during fatal crash, prosecutors say
Pierce County prosecutors have charged a man with vehicular homicide for his role in a fatal Fife crash in March.
Kevin Cheetham, 27, was charged Friday in Pierce County Superior Court with the death of Tanner Munden, with his arraignment scheduled for Aug. 18.
Munden, a 38-year-old Puyallup man, died at the scene of the March 13 wreck on 70th Avenue East near Valley Avenue East.
According to charging documents:
Cheetham was driving his compact car about 70 mph southbound on a rainslick 70th Avenue East just after 1 p.m. March 13. The speed limit for the area is 35 mph.
A group of vehicles were parked at a red light on 70th Avenue, waiting to turn onto Valley Avenue East toward Puyallup.
Cheetham’s car slammed into the back of Munden’s sedan, causing “catastrophic damage” and accelerating it nearly instantaneously to 36 mph, above the speed limit for the road. Cheetham’s car then careened across the road and stopped facing the opposite direction.
Munden’s car was then pushed into the back of a parked SUV, which then hit a parked box truck. The drivers of those two vehicles were uninjured.
Munden died within moments of a torn aorta and transected spinal cord. He was wearing his seat belt.
Surveillance video from a nearby business showed Cheetham’s car going between 65 and 70 mph on 70th Avenue.
One of the responding Fife police officers saw a bottle of pills in the cabin of Cheetham’s car.
Cheetham was left dazed by the crash and was taken to Saint Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma before meeting with investigators.
Cheetham told police that the last thing he remembered was eating at Arby’s with his mother before driving away.
He said he took medication for seizures, but he didn’t remember taking the pills either the day of the crash or the day before.
When asked if there was anything that would turn up in his blood, Cheetham declined to say.
The Washington State Patrol Crime Lab tested Cheetham’s blood and did not find drugs or alcohol.
Kenny Ocker: 253-597-8627, @KennyOcker
This story was originally published August 5, 2017 at 12:41 PM with the headline "Seizure-prone man off his meds during fatal crash, prosecutors say."