One dead after head-on crash in Pierce County
One person is dead after a two-vehicle collision on the Key Peninsula Highway.
Anne Nesbit, spokesperson for Key Peninsula Fire, told The News Tribune the collision happened at about 8:44 a.m. in the 3700 block of Key Peninsula Highway. One person has died, Nesbit said, while another has been transported to a hospital with critical injuries.
The highway is down to one lane, Nesbit said, but it is passable.
Carly Cappetto, spokesperson for the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office, told The News Tribune the person who died is an 81-year-old man, and the person in critical condition is a 75-year-old man. The 75-year-old man’s condition is “unknown,” Cappetto said.
The 81-year-old man was driving a pickup, while the 75-year-old man was driving a “smaller SUV,” Cappetto said. The collision was a head-on crash.
“The deceased was not maintaining his lane, and the subject that’s in serious condition attempted to avoid him as he was coming into his lane, and he corrected really hard,” Cappetto said.
Cappetto stressed that law enforcement doesn’t yet know if the 81-year-old man was suffering from a medical condition behind the wheel or any other causes that could have led to the collision.
Nesbit said the cause is under investigation.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include the drivers’ ages and genders, as well as the nature of the crash.
This story was originally published May 22, 2026 at 10:26 AM.
