Man who crashed into estranged wife’s vehicle, seriously injuring her, is sentenced
A man whose estranged wife was critically injured after he crashed into her car in Parkland last year has been sentenced.
Christopher Evans Walker, 38, pleaded guilty Tuesday to second-degree assault, violating protection orders, and reckless endangerment.
Pierce County Superior Court Commissioner Craig Adams sentenced Walker to a year in prison, according to court records. Walker has already served that long awaiting trial.
Prosecutors agreed to recommend that sentence.
“Although the state still believes in the truth of the charges and has probable cause for all current charges, trial would create a risk of not guilty verdicts on” several charges, deputy prosecutor Brad Hashimoto wrote the court about the plea agreement. “... This agreement is not meant to minimize what happened to the victims in this case, nor should it be taken as a condoning of the defendant’s behavior. However, state needs to go off what we can prove and intent would be difficult to prove at trial.”
He noted that the case involved an assault with a vehicle and that they did not have an accident reconstruction report. Some witnesses also gave conflicting information about a third vehicle being involved, he wrote.
Charging papers and the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department gave this account of what happened:
Walker’s wife got a temporary domestic violence protection order against him, alleging that he’d made threats to kill her, had been violent and was stalking her.
Then they met at his mother’s home Dec. 30, 2018 and argued. They left in different cars, and moments later Walker T-boned his wife’s vehicle near 112th Street South and A Street South.
Both were seriously injured. One of the vehicles also hit an apartment building, and four people inside the apartment suffered less serious injuries.
Loved ones at Walker’s initial court appearance told reporters that he needed help and that he’d struggled with drugs in recent years.
Prosecutors at the time said Walker might be facing life without parole if convicted of the assault, under the state’s “three-strikes” law.
Among his prior convictions are a 2001 second-degree assault and a 2005 second-degree robbery, according to court records.
