Teen died in Tacoma crash. Her family says the city and others contributed to her death
The family and estate of a teenage girl killed in a fiery Tacoma crash in late 2020 claim that factors contributed to her death beyond the high-speed driving of a friend later sentenced to prison.
A wrongful death lawsuit filed this month in Pierce County Superior Court on behalf of victim Hannah Lindemeier’s parents, sibling and estate named several defendants: the city of Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington State Department of Transportation, a smoke shop franchise and the father of the teenager behind the wheel during the crash.
The legal filing seeks liability for purported events that took place prior to the crash and alleged that the three governmental agencies failed to regulate speed and address hazardous conditions on Marine View Drive where the incident occurred.
“It’s a tragedy and, unfortunately, it was entirely preventable,” attorney Kerry Zeiler, who’s representing Lindemeier’s family and estate in the complaint, told The News Tribune.
Benjamin Crider is also named as a defendant in the civil case.
Crider was 18 years old in December 2020 when the car he was driving with Lindemeier and two other friends as passengers lost control navigating a corner and tore through a power pole, flipped and caught fire near Commencement Bay in Northeast Tacoma. He was sentenced in June 2022 to more than nine years in prison after pleading guilty to vehicular homicide and two counts of DUI vehicular assault.
Crider admitted to smoking marijuana on the day of the crash. Authorities calculated he was driving upwards of 114 mph one-fifth of a mile before the crash site and that the vehicle was traveling roughly 75 mph after striking the utility pole. Two others in the vehicle were seriously injured. Crider expressed remorse for the crash, according to an attorney representing him at the time of his sentencing.
“The defendant’s driving consisted of high speeds on a dark, wet, winding road,” deputy prosecuting attorney Timothy Jones wrote in a criminal court filing in June 2022.
Lindemeier, 16, of Kent, died from blunt head trauma, according to the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office.
She excelled as a student, had a loving heart and dreamed of becoming a doctor, one of her aunts said in a victim-impact statement submitted to the court prior to Crider’s sentencing.
Others allegedly contributed to teen’s death
The lawsuit, filed Nov. 7, alleged that the city, county and WSDOT failed to correct dangerous and hazardous conditions in the area of 4200 Marine View Drive and that there had been other injury crashes in the vicinity.
“The hazards included the proximity of the utility pole to the public road, the conditions of the road, the lack of adequate speed regulation, and the long straightaways on the road that permit excessive speed and loss of control,” the filing said.
Representatives for the city, county and WSDOT declined to comment on the allegations, citing practices of not publicly addressing pending litigation.
“We share the family’s grief over the loss of a loved one,” WSDOT spokesperson Cara Mitchell said in an email.
The suit also alleged that Crider’s father owned the 2008 Volkswagen involved in the crash and had entrusted it to his son for use. Attorneys representing Crider and his father both declined to comment.
Lastly, the legal complaint alleged that a smoke-shop franchise sold Crider marijuana products prior to the crash despite Crider being under the legal age of 21 to make such a purchase. Crider’s THC level was 4.9 +/- 1.3 nanograms per milliliter, prosecutors said, adding that a jury could have found it to be above or below the legal limit of 5.0. No alcohol was found in his blood.
In a declaration for determination of probable cause to charge Crider, authorities noted that he said that he and friends had stopped by War Pony, a smoke shop, to buy “vape stuff” and that he previously smoked marijuana from a vape pen.
Faron Young, with Portland Avenue Ventures LLC — which is named as a defendant in the suit and owns three War Pony locations in Tacoma and Fife — told The News Tribune that the businesses don’t sell marijuana and never have and that their insurance company arrived at the same conclusion following an investigation.
“We have strong measures (for) carding people, and we sell tobacco only,” Young said.
In response, Zeiler said that he hadn’t had any discussions with representatives of the smoke-shop franchise or its attorneys and that the matter was something to be resolved during court discovery.
The lawsuit alleged wrongful death against all defendants; negligence against Crider’s father and the three governmental agencies; and negligence per se against Crider and the smoke-shop franchise. It seeks unspecified monetary damages in an amount to be proven at trial, as well as other costs and to recoup legal fees.
“The actions and omissions of the defendants, and each of them, contributed proximately to the wrongful death of Hannah Lindemeier on December 20, 2020,” the lawsuit said.
