Man charged with vehicular homicide in fatal New Year’s Day crash near University Place
A 57-year-old man was charged with vehicular homicide Thursday in connection to a New Year’s Day crash near University Place, court records show.
Todd James Pearson, who authorities say was driving a Dodge Ram and suspected of being impaired, allegedly caused the two-vehicle wreck by losing control of the truck after aggressively attempting to pass a Subaru in front of him on South Orchard Street, according to a Tacoma police report.
A not guilty plea was entered on Pearson’s behalf at his arraignment Thursday in Pierce County Superior Court. Bail was set at $100,000.
A number of relatives and friends submitted letters of support for Pearson to the court before the hearing, court records show.
The police report, attached in court records linked to the criminal charge, said that Pearson accepted fault for the crash and that a witness observed him speeding.
The report didn’t reveal specific details about how the incident occurred.
Emergency crews responded to the crash in the area of 48th Street West and South Orchard Street just after 12:30 p.m. Wednesday. Footage from the aftermath, captured by The News Tribune, showed that both vehicles were severely damaged and flipped on their sides in the front yard of a home.
The driver of the Subaru, who is named in court records but has yet to be identified by the Medical Examiner’s Office, was pronounced dead at the scene, a Tacoma Fire Department spokesperson previously said. Pearson, who had been with his wife, was taken to a local hospital for treatment of apparent non-serious injuries, according to the police report, before being booked into the county jail.
Pearson told an officer that he was driving in the left lane near the center lane — the direction wasn’t specified — when he decided to go around the vehicle in front of him, the report said. He estimated that he was driving 45 mph and lost control of the truck, which turned sideways, and then was struck. A nearby street sign indicates the speed limit in the area is 35 mph.
“He didn’t seem to remember exactly how the collision occurred,” an officer wrote in the police report.
At the scene, Pearson’s eyes were “very glassy and bloodshot” and he appeared disoriented and at times spoke with a slur, the report said. It noted that odors observed by an officer, field sobriety testing and a breath alcohol-concentration test factored into suspicions that Pearson was impaired.
“Based on all of (Pearson’s) statements about the collision, it appears that (Pearson) attempted to pass the vehicle in front of him in an aggressive manner by quickly accelerating which then caused him to lose traction and control of his truck,” an officer wrote in the report. “He admitted earlier that the collision was his fault. It is of my opinion that Pearson’s level of intoxication contributed to his poor decision making and impulsive driving behavior.”
Pearson did not face any DUI-specific charges Thursday, but the vehicular homicide charge alleged that he had operated a vehicle “under the influence of intoxicating liquor and/or drugs, or in a reckless manner, or with disregard for the safety of others,” court records show.
Pearson acknowledged to an officer he had consumed a bloody mary cocktail at 9:30 a.m., roughly three hours prior to the collision, according to the police report.
He provided a voluntary breath sample roughly an hour after the crash that returned a .078 blood-alcohol concentration (BrAC), which an officer estimated would have been about .093 at the time of the collision, according to the report. The legal blood-alcohol content (BAC) limit for drivers in Washington state is .08%.
An officer also performed field sobriety tests on Pearson and concluded that four of six clues indicated impairment, the report said.
After Pearson was taken to a holding cell at Tacoma police headquarters, an officer procured a search warrant for a blood draw, which was performed at about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday — or about three hours after the crash, according to the report. The result of the draw, which can measure blood-alcohol content, was not included within the report.
Pearson previously was convicted in 1990 and 1991, respectively, of negligent driving and having no valid driver’s license in King County, according to a public safety assessment filed in court.
This story was originally published January 2, 2025 at 1:50 PM.
