He drove over 100 mph in Tacoma then wrecked, killing 16-year-old. Now he faces prison
A 20-year-old man was sentenced to more than nine years in prison earlier this month for driving more than 100 mph and wrecking his car in Northeast Tacoma with three other teenagers inside, killing one and seriously injuring two others.
Benjamin Crider was driving his friends to a scenic overlook late on Dec. 20, 2020 when he lost control of his vehicle at a curve on Marine View Drive and tore through a power pole, causing the car to flip and catch fire.
The defendant pleaded guilty and was sentenced June 1 in Pierce County Superior Court for vehicular homicide and two counts of DUI vehicular assault. Crider has no prior convictions. Judge Sabrina Ahrens ordered Crider to serve nine years, three months in prison. That is the low-end of the standard sentencing range for similar cases.
Hannah Lindemeier, 16 of Kent, died at the scene of the collision. The other occupants, Olivia Ross and Spencer Dunn, were injured and hospitalized for multiple days.
In a victim impact statement submitted to the court, one of Lindemeier’s aunts wrote that the teenager excelled as a student and dreamed of being a doctor one day. She said Lindemeier was bright and full of life, and that she had a loving heart.
“Ben Crider made a very reckless and ignorant choice that night which led to the death of our Hannah Elizabeth,” Mary Madsen wrote. “He made this choice resulting in the taking of Hannah’s life, therefore, I believe he must pay with many years of his life behind bars for true justice to be served.”
In his guilty plea statement, Crider said he smoked marijuana the day of the crash and that it affected his driving. The psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, THC, was found in Crider’s blood through toxicology testing, but prosecutors said his THC level was 4.9 +/- 1.3 nanograms per milliliter. The legal limit is 5.0, and prosecutors said a jury could find Crider was above or below the limit.
No alcohol was found in Crider’s blood. Prosecutors said their focus was instead Crider’s driving and whether it was affected by what he consumed.
“The defendant’s driving consisted of high speeds on a dark, wet, winding road,” deputy prosecuting attorney Timothy Jones wrote in a court filing.
Using surveillance video from a nearby marina that appeared to show his car driving by, Tacoma Police Department officers estimated Crider was driving about 114 mph two-tenths of a mile from the crash site. By analyzing the crash scene, police estimated the vehicle was going about 59 mph when it went airborne.
The defendant’s attorney said Crider was “riddled with guilt” over the crash, according to court records. When the deadly collision occurred, Crider was taking a year off after attending Kentwood High School before going to college or taking up a trade.
“Not a day goes by that he does not think about what he did, and the consequences of his actions,” attorney Diego Vargas wrote.
This story was originally published June 14, 2022 at 1:05 PM.
