An 18-year-old Kent man charged with causing the deaths of a woman and three children and injuring two children in a “mass casualty” collision in Renton pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on April 1.
Chase Daniel Jones, 18, of Kent, pleaded not guilty to four felony counts of vehicular homicide, two felony counts of vehicular assault with aggravating injury, and a misdemeanor charge of reckless driving in King County Superior Court.
According to Casey McNerthney, director of communications for the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, Jones appeared at his arraignment hearing through Zoom from his hospital bed. First responders transported Jones to Harborview Medical Center following the collision.
Judge Johanna Bender oversaw Jones’s April 1 arraignment at the Maleng Regional Justice Center.
Jones’s defense attorney asked the court to release Jones on his personal recognizance, with King County prosecutors arguing against the request, according to McNerthney. The court additionally heard via Zoom from the parents of the three children killed in the March 19 collision — Matilda Wilcoxson, 13, Eloise Wilcoxson, 12, and Boyd “Buster” Brown, 12.
The court granted Jones’s motion to reduce bail from the original $1 million bail, set at his first appearance hearing.
The court set Jones’s bail at $100,000, which was posted the next day on Tuesday, April 2.
Jones is required to be placed on electronic home monitoring in the condition within 24 hours of his release from the hospital, according to McNerthney. The court has restricted Jones from driving any motor vehicle.
According to charging documents, Jones’s sedan T-boned 38-year-old Andrea Hudson’s minivan, as she carpooled five children, at the intersection of Southeast 192nd Street and 140th Avenue Southeast in the Cascade-Fairwood area of unincorporated King County after running through a red light at 112 mph.
According to documents, Hudson, Matilda, Eloise and Buster died instantly as the sedan crushed and pushed the minivan into two additional vehicles prior to the minivan rolling on its side. First responders pronounced the four dead at the scene, and discovered and transported Hudson’s children, Nolan and Charlotte, to Harborview Medical Center with life-threatening injuries. Nolan and Charlotte suffered significant brain bleeds, internal injuries and broken bones in the collision, according to charging documents.
According to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office, Hudson, Eloise, Matilda, and Buster all died as a result of multiple blunt force injuries.
Jones suffered an internal injury, requiring surgery, and a fractured leg and ribs. According to charging documents, witness accounts and video footage of Jones’s driving prior to the collision saw him speeding and weaving through traffic and using the shared turn lane to pass.
Jones’s 2015 Audi A4 serves as the third vehicle he totaled in a crash involving speed in 11 months, with two prior collisions in the City of Kent, according to an affidavit of probable cause.
The court scheduled Jones’s next omnibus hearing for April 15, 2024.
The court scheduled Jones’s trial for May 20, 2024.
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