Two cars hit a Tacoma trooper. Why prosecutors say they can’t file charges
The Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office will not file charges against two drivers who struck a Washington State Patrol trooper in Tacoma in December, leading to her death.
In a memo sent to The News Tribune, prosecutors said they can’t prove the two drivers — who struck 29-year-old trooper Tara-Marysa Guting in separate incidents minutes apart — acted with criminal negligence or knowingly left the scene of a fatal accident.
The News Tribune does not generally name suspects unless they have been charged.
Guting was investigating a two-vehicle collision on the on-ramp of State Route 509 at the Port of Tacoma Road on Dec. 19, 2025, The News Tribune previously reported, when a car struck her at about 7:21 p.m.
This first driver stayed on scene, according to the memo.
Guting was hit the second time as she lay in the right-hand lane for about two minutes, according to the memo. The second car kept going, and the driver later told police he thought he had hit a pothole.
The News Tribune reached out to the Washington State Patrol for a statement on the Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney Office’s decision not to file charges but did not receive an immediate response.
What happened on Dec. 19?
There was a disabled vehicle and a tow truck on scene, according to the memo.
Guting was dispatched at 6 p.m. and last responded to dispatch at 7:19 p.m., according to the memo. Her bodycam footage showed that she was not wearing reflective gear but was pointing a flashlight at the ground.
Guting walked across the on-ramp to speak to the driver of the disabled vehicle and the tow truck driver, the memo said, when she was struck by the first car at about 7:21 p.m. It was a “rainy evening,” according to the memo, and the sun had set almost three hours prior at 4:23 p.m., meaning visibility was low.
After the first collision, she was thrown into the right-hand lane of State Route 509.
The first driver pulled over and stopped immediately, the memo said, and was “visibly distraught.” He told police he saw Guting in the roadway but could not stop in time and was driving at about 35 to 40 miles per hour.
Police later conducted tests on the first driver, the memo said, who was not intoxicated.
At 7:23 p.m., a second driver hit Guting in the right-hand lane of State Route 509, the memo said, and pulled her 10 to 12 feet.
“In dash camera video, the [second vehicle] does not appear to brake prior to striking her, but a distinct bounce occurs at the moment of the collision and the [the vehicle’s] brake lights briefly illuminate,” the memo says. “The [vehicle] continues on without stopping or accelerating.”
Police later received a tip from a resident, the memo said, saying the second driver had contacted her and told her he had seen news reports about Guting’s death and believed he was involved. The second driver allegedly told the tipster that he thought he had hit a bag of garbage.
The second driver was arrested for an unrelated incident, the memo says, and told police he was involved in Guting’s death but thought at the time he had struck a pothole.
Declining to press charges
In the memo, prosecutors say two deputies from the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office recreated the conditions of the first crash later that evening, with one deputy standing where Guting was and one deputy driving towards him.
“My ability to see [the other deputy] in the roadway, similar to where Trooper Guting was standing, was greatly reduced due to the excess lights as well as the dark and rainy conditions,” one of the deputies wrote. “In conclusion, I believe it would be very difficult for any driver to observe a standing pedestrian in the roadway under these conditions.”
Prosecutors say that because visibility was poor and the first driver was driving under the speed limit and wasn’t intoxicated, they can’t charge him with vehicular homicide. There is no evidence the first driver was “driving with disregard for the safety of others,” the memo says.
As for the second driver, prosecutors declined to press charges against him for a hit-and-run because they can’t prove that he knew he was in an accident or that he had contributed to Guting’s death.
“Given the time of day, weather, lack of visibility, and Trooper Guting’s location, the State cannot prove [the second driver] realized he hit Trooper Guting,” the memo said. “The best the State could prove is [the second driver] knew he hit a garbage bag or a pothole, which does not trigger the obligations of the hit and run statute.”
It is also hard to charge the second driver, the memo says, because authorities don’t know which crash ultimately killed Guting.
“The Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office conducted the autopsy examination, and ruled the cause of death to be blunt force injuries and the manner of death as [an] accident,” the memo said. “The medical examiner was unable to determine which collision caused the injuries sustained by Trooper Guting, and therefore cannot say if one strike or the other definitively killed Trooper Guting.”
In a news release on Dec. 20, 2025, the day after, WSP said Guting began her career as a cadet in January 2024 and graduated with the 119th Trooper Basic Training Class, serving WSP District 1 in Tacoma.
Guting was born in Honololu, Hawaii, and enlisted in the Army National Guard on Oct. 22, 2014.
“Tara’s loss is deeply felt within the WSP family, and especially by her husband, Timothy, who himself serves as a Deputy State Fire Marshal at the WSP Fire Training Academy in North Bend,” the release said. “Her dedication to service and commitment to her duties were evident throughout her eight-year military career.”
Guting was the 34th trooper to die on the job in WSP’s history, the release said.
