Man drove ‘crazy’ before hitting, killing pedestrian on Puyallup sidewalk, charges say
A Puyallup man has been charged for fatally striking a pedestrian before crashing into the side of a Walgreens while allegedly under the influence in Puyallup on Tuesday.
Kyle Lynn Sandstrom, 41, was arrested Tuesday for the crash that killed a 37-year-old Puyallup man. Pierce County prosecutors charged Sandstrom with one count of vehicular homicide, court records show.
A plea of not guilty was entered on Sandstrom’s behalf Wednesday at his arraignment. A Pierce County Court Commissioner set his bail at $300,000, records show.
Puyallup police were dispatched at about 9:19 a.m. for a single-vehicle collision at a Walgreens in the 4000 block of South Meridian. Sandstrom had crashed his Ford F150 truck on a wall. A large planter had been struck, and there was debris on the sidewalk, charging documents show.
An officer spoke to Sandstrom, who was in an ambulance. The officer noted that Sandstrom was excited and nervous. When the officer asked questions, Sandstrom would abruptly stop and pause to think of an answer. A witness told police there was a person who was thrown from the truck and was lying on the east sidewalk of South Meridian. Sandstrom denied there was a passenger in the truck, prosecutors wrote.
The unconscious man, later identified as the 37-year-old man, was located and pronounced deceased at the scene, prosecutors wrote.
A witness told police that the F150 was driving north on the eastbound sidewalk of South Meridian and struck a light pole. He saw the victim on the sidewalk as well. The witness said that the truck was traveling 50 mph or more. He described the F150 as driving “crazy at a high rate of speed before hitting the store,” prosecutors wrote.
From surveillance footage, officers learned that the F150 was traveling at high speed when it ran onto the sidewalk. The truck allegedly struck the victim who was walking on the sidewalk, prosecutors wrote.
When Sandstrom agreed to a field sobriety test, officers noted he had full body tremors and his pupils were very dilated. Sandstrom was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital for a legal blood draw before he was booked into Pierce County Jail. His toxicology results are pending, prosecutors wrote.
Sandstrom has previous convictions in Pierce County for first-degree theft and first-degree malicious mischief, court records show.
