Tacoma Tideflats crash that killed 6 prompts lawsuit that warnings went ignored
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- Six people were killed in 2023 at the State Route 509 and Alexander Avenue intersection.
- A lawsuit alleges that officials ignored warnings about the Tacoma Tideflats crash site.
- WSDOT plans to redesign the intersection as part of a $376M infrastructure project.
The mother of one of six young people killed in a 2023 crash on Tacoma’s Tideflats claims in a recently filed lawsuit that the intersection where the wreck occurred was long known to be dangerous and officials failed to make it safer.
Javan Runnels, 22, was one of six victims — all in town from Arizona for an Amway convention — traveling in a Kia Forte that ran a red light on southbound Alexander Avenue before it was struck by a BMW SUV that had driven through a yellow light on eastbound State Route 509, authorities said.
A seventh person in the Kia suffered serious injuries in the July 16, 2023, crash, which was the state’s deadliest in more than two decades. Two people in the BMW were uninjured, according to Pierce County prosecutors, who later determined there was insufficient evidence to bring criminal charges related to the wreck.
The intersection had been the site of previous crashes and issues with vehicles running red lights and speeding due to flawed road and traffic design, giving officials at least a decade’s notice that there were problems, according to a wrongful death lawsuit filed May 27 by Runnels’ mother, Lisa Campbell.
Authorities had said the Kia was traveling between 36 and 41 mph and steadily accelerating at the moment of impact. The BMW was going between 50 to 66 mph at the time of the crash but vehicle data showed its speed was 80 mph five seconds before the collision, according to authorities. The speed limit on the highway is 50 mph.
The suit, lodged in Pierce County Superior Court, cast liability on five governments and agencies described collectively as “Road Defendants”: the city of Tacoma, the state of Washington, the Washington State Department of Transportation, Tacoma Rail and the Port of Tacoma.
“Due to excessive speed limits, insufficient signage, limited visibility and poor road design, implementation, operation and control of the Alexander Avenue intersection, it posed a hazard which caused drivers to unintentionally run red traffic lights,” the suit said. “The Alexander Avenue intersection posed a foreseeable hazard which Road Defendants could have avoided or mitigated, yet chose not to.”
Representatives for each of the five defendants declined to comment on the complaint, citing practices of not publicly addressing pending litigation.
The lawsuit was not unexpected after attorneys representing Campbell filed claims with the city and state for $20 million in September 2023 — a precursor to a formal legal complaint.
It’s the second known lawsuit filed over the deadly crash. The parents of 19-year-old Cerra Corner sued WSDOT, the city of Tacoma and the Port of Tacoma in June 2024, citing nearly identical allegations. That suit said that state and local officials studied and discussed re-designing the intersection years before the wreck. Defendants have denied wrongdoing in that lawsuit, which was ongoing as of Tuesday, court records show.
Attorney Anthony Marsh, who’s representing Campbell in the complaint lodged by her personally and on behalf of her son’s estate, said that he saw defendants’ arguments denying responsibility as tantamount to “hot potato between various government entities” that underscored why the crash happened.
“It’s just a really tragic set of circumstances where if there’s any sort of ability for a government agency to push the responsibility to somebody else, they typically will, with foreseeable consequences like in this case,” Marsh said in an interview Tuesday.
The complaint by Runnels’ mother accused the “Road Defendants” of managing the intersection so that Tacoma Rail’s activities took precedence over traffic flow. It also suggested that a large interchange installed to address similar issues at the state highway’s intersection with Port of Tacoma Road, west of Alexander Avenue, had exacerbated problems at Alexander Avenue, which hadn’t received comparable changes.
State Route 509 crosses Alexander Avenue at two nearby intersections: One for eastbound traffic on the highway and another for westbound vehicles. Both are currently expected to be reworked as part of a stage of WSDOT’s $376 million 167 Completion Project. The stage is anticipated to be completed next year.
The plan is to reduce the intersections to one crossing controlled by a single set of traffic lights and replace “signal ahead” signs with “Prepare to Stop When Flashing” signs in both directions of State Route 509. Flashing beacons on the signs will activate as the traffic signal prepares to change from green to yellow, according to WSDOT.
The recently filed lawsuit also names several other defendants, including the two occupants of the BMW, the representative for Kia driver Lisa Esparza’s estate, and the lone passenger in the Kia who survived the crash and allegedly had rented the vehicle. The suit seeks unspecified damages to be proven at trial, legal fees and other relief deemed appropriate by the court.
