Man accused in crash that killed passenger was under influence of drugs, charges say
A man accused of driving while under the influence of drugs and crashing his car on Waller Road East in Tacoma, killing a woman in his passenger seat, has been charged.
Leonard Johnson, 56, was charged Monday with vehicular homicide in Pierce County Superior Court. He was charged in the death of 44-year-old Lisa Sanford. Johnson has yet to be arraigned.
Sanford was a passenger in Johnson’s Volkswagen Passat in July 2020 when Johnson allegedly veered off Waller Road East, struck a pile of rocks and overturned, according to the declaration for determination of probable cause. Sanford was pronounced dead at the scene.
A toxicology report later indicated Johnson’s blood contained fentanyl and norfentanyl at the time of the incident.
Charging papers gave this account of what happened:
Pierce County Sheriff’s Department deputies responded to a report of a rollover collision around 9:30 p.m. July 14, 2020, near 4623 Waller Road East. When they arrived, deputies found a 2000 Volkswagen Passat resting on its roof on the side of the road.
Deputies later determined Johnson was traveling north on Waller Road when he veered off onto the shoulder and struck a raised area where there were large rocks, a stump and a mailbox, according to the probable cause statement. Johnson’s car rolled and came to a rest on its roof.
Inside the car, deputies found Sanford seat-belted into the front passenger seat, according to the probable cause statement. She was removed from the car and pronounced dead at the scene.
Johnson was removed from the car and placed on a gurney, where, prosecutors wrote, he told a deputy he had taken Percocet for pain one hour before the incident. Johnson was transported to the hospital in serious condition.
Blood samples taken from Johnson were later found to contain fentanyl and norfentanyl, according to the probable cause statement.
A witness told deputies she had seen Johnson’s Passat stopped at a stop sign at the intersection of 64th Street East and Woodland Avenue East before the incident. According to the probable cause statement, she said she followed the car north and saw it cross the center line three times, and at one point the Passat occupied the entire opposite lane of travel.
The Passat traveled speeds between 37 mph and 55 mph, the witness told deputies.
At the hospital, Johnson told a deputy he recalled running his car off the road before the collision, but that he didn’t hit anything. Prosecutors wrote that Johnson again told deputies he had taken two Percocet pills for pain about an hour before the crash.
This story was originally published September 1, 2021 at 11:32 AM.
