65-year-old woman killed in University Place Saturday by suspected drunken driver

A 65-year-old woman was killed Saturday in University Place following a reported drunken-driving collision, according to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department.

The dispatch call came in Saturday at 5:51 p.m. Sheriff’s deputies and emergency medical technicians from West Pierce Fire and Rescue headed to the intersection of 35th Street West and Grandview Drive West, a few blocks from Curtis High School.

Witnesses reportedly told deputies that the driver of an SUV hit another vehicle that had slowed for a turn. The driver of the SUV, reportedly moving at high speed, kept going, turned a corner, and hit a small sedan stopped at a nearby stop sign, a statement from the sheriff’s department said. The woman in the sedan died at the scene.

The SUV driver, a 21-year-old man, appeared to be impaired by alcohol. He was arrested and booked into the Pierce County Jail on suspicion of vehicular homicide.

This story was originally published June 26, 2022 at 12:15 PM.