Husband of woman killed by driver fleeing Pierce County deputies speaks at sentencing
A 40-year-old man who fled from Pierce County deputies while under the influence of drugs and ran a red light, causing a collision that killed a woman in another vehicle and badly injured her husband, was sentenced Friday to 27 years in prison.
The night of the wreck, March 16, 2022, 47-year-old Stephanie LaGuardia and her husband, Ernesto, were in the process of moving to the Tacoma area from Auburn. The plan was to move one load in the SUV they’d rented, then go home and watch movies.
Around the same time, two Sheriff’s Office deputies were patrolling on Pacific when they noticed a silver Dodge Charger traveling south rev its engine and drive onto a curb. Behind the wheel was Zakery M. Bonds. He and a passenger were headed to meet someone at an auto parts store near 99th street in Parkland.
The deputies followed Bonds into the parking lot to contact him. According to police reports, Bonds nearly struck the patrol vehicle and appeared disoriented. As the deputies got out and told him to stop the car, Bonds sped north out of the lot.
By the time the deputies pulled onto Pacific and activated their lights and sirens, Bonds was nearly two blocks ahead, passing traffic in the turn lane at high speed. He went around cars stopped at a red light, went through 96th and collided with a vehicle going west.
At Bonds’ sentencing hearing Friday in Superior Court, the driver of that vehicle, Ernesto LaGuardia, 51, stood in court. He said he will never forget that night. He said he remembers the impact, the vehicle crushing into his body, and not being able to reach for his wife.
As their vehicle came to a stop, LaGuardia saw a police officer. He said he asked him to please help his wife. A door was pried open, and she was pulled out.
“As I sat in the car trapped, I noticed I could see her feet. And they were performing CPR,” LaGuardia said. “And all I kept asking was ‘How is my wife? Please God help me. Help, help, help my wife.’”
First responders showed up on LaGuardia’s side. The top of the vehicle was cut open, and he was pulled out. He said he kept asking about Stephanie, but he got no reply. In an ambulance he asked the same question over and over.
“How is my wife? Please tell me how is my wife,” LaGuardia said. “And a guy leans over to me and says ‘I don’t think it’s good.’”
LaGuardia said he thought maybe it was pretty bad, and he’d see her in the hospital. When he got there, he learned she’d died.
The couple were married for about 20 years. LaGuardia said Stephanie was an amazing wife, daughter, sister, friend and auntie. They learned a few years into their marriage that they couldn’t have children, LaGuardia said, so they decided to be the best aunts and uncles they could be. Together they also had four dogs: Princess, Oliver, Mila and Ty.
LaGuardia said Stephanie was his best friend and greatest source of joy, and together they built a life of love, laughter and shared dreams.
“Each day feels like I am walking through life in a fog,” LaGuardia said. “I find myself missing her smile, this wonderful voice, the way she would make my day better by being near me. My world has become quieter and darker.”
A dozen friends and relatives of Stephanie came to court Friday to watch Bonds be sentenced before Judge Michael Schwartz. He pleaded guilty in December to DUI vehicular homicide and vehicular assault.
Schwartz also heard from Stephanie’s mother, Debra Michel, before he imposed Bonds’ sentence. Michel had Stephanie before she was 16 years old, and she described the challenges her daughter faced in her childhood and teenage years — running away from home, getting involved in drugs and falling in with the wrong crowd.
Michel said her daughter worked diligently to find herself again, and she eventually became a caregiver for people who were sick or struggling with issues such as dementia.
“Even the most cantankerous clients, the ones people don’t want to deal with, were treated by her with unwavering compassion,” Michel said. “She was a fierce advocate, fighting passionately for those who felt were being mistreated.”
Deputy prosecuting attorney Elizabeth Dasse and Bonds’ defense attorney, Bryan Hershman, recommended Bonds be sentenced to a little more than 22 years in prison, which included two 24-month enhancements because he has two prior DUIs on his record. That recommendation was the low end of the standard sentencing range for defendants prosecuted in similar cases.
Bonds has a lengthy criminal history, according to court records, including eight prior convictions for attempting to elude police on five different dates between 2014 and 2019.
Hershmann said Bonds’ mother was killed when he was 2 years old, and he was left with his father, who introduced him to methamphetamine, opiates and marijuana before he was a teenager. Bonds was primarily raised by his grandmother, but Hershman said he formed an unhealthy attachment to his father that led him to imitate him.
“Mr. Bonds’ addiction was immediate, and it was consuming,” Hershman said. “As he grew, his addiction became a tool to cope with and his underlying health picture, his picture was pivotal on the night in question.”
Hershman said he met Bonds as a teen, and he considered him to be “an absolute waste.” But he said that wasn’t the man he was standing next to in court.
Hershman while in jail, Bonds was appropriately medicated for the first time in his life, and he changed remarkably. He expressed regret and remorse, something Hershman said Bonds wasn’t capable of in all the years before.
When it was Bonds’ turn to speak, he stood and said the actions on the night of the wreck were the worst in his life. He said his own mother was killed by a drunk driver, and the guilt tears him apart every day.
“I beg forgiveness multiple times per day,” Bonds said. “I wish and I beg God to please go back in time and let me trade places.”
Bonds said every day he focuses on helping others and being a better person than he was the day before. He said he would do anything to make this up, whether it’s his life or anything else.
“I’ll be gone a long time, and I’ll take responsibility for my actions, I’ll stand up for it,” Bonds said. “I’m truly sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry to all of you. I’m sorry.”
After court adjourned, Ernesto LaGuardia and Michel told The News Tribune they were pleased that the judge gave Bonds more time than had been recommended. Neither of them found Bonds’ apology genuine. Michel questioned why Bonds hadn’t shown any remorse when he pleaded guilty.
Michel said she wasn’t out for vengeance. She said if people like Bonds are off the streets, less people would be killed.
“I don’t want another mother to go through what I went through,” Michel said.
