Woman drove impaired, fatally struck pedestrian walking on SR-7 in Spanaway, charges say
A 26-year-old driver who struck and killed a pedestrian walking on state Route 7 in Spanaway last year while allegedly impaired by alcohol or drugs has been charged with vehicular homicide.
A bench warrant was issued Thursday for the arrest of Taylor Renae Tovoli. According to charging documents, Tovoli was driving north on the highway Dec. 29 in a Honda Civic at high speed when she hit a 47-year-old woman near 208th Street East, about a mile-and-a-half south of the Roy Y.
The woman Tovoli struck was Tonja Anna Marie Johnson of Lakewood, the Washington State Patrol said. She was pronounced dead at the scene. According to her obituary, she was a mother to three daughters.
Johnson was approaching 208th street, walking in one of the travel lanes when she was hit, according to the State Patrol. The incident reportedly occurred at about 9:47 p.m. The highway does not have sidewalks before 208th street.
A 5-year-old girl was in Tovoli’s Honda. She was injured and transported to Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital. Records state she was out of the car by the time state troopers arrived and had sought help. Tovoli was trapped inside the vehicle but was eventually removed.
The Honda crossed all lanes of travel before it went west off the road, a witness told Washington State Patrol troopers, according to the probable cause document. The vehicle went through a fence and into a parking lot where it hit a parked box truck.
Troopers noted that the Honda had significant front-end damage, and there was debris strewn across the northbound and southbound lanes. State Route 7 was blocked for nearly six hours while the scene was investigated.
Inside Tovoli’s vehicle, troopers found a box of Twisted Tea alcoholic beverages, records state. After Tovoli was placed in an ambulance, troopers reported a strong smell of intoxicants, and the woman reportedly vomited. The results of her toxicology testing are pending.
Tovoli does not appear to have any prior felony convictions in Pierce County, according to court records.
