Tukwila teen charged with vehicular homicide in Kent crash

A 16-year-old Tukwila boy was charged Thursday with vehicular homicide for allegedly driving a car involved in a head-on collision June 30 in Kent that killed a 13-year-old girl who rode in his vehicle.

The teen is scheduled to be arraigned on July 26 in Juvenile Courtroom 3 in King County Superior Court in Seattle, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. The Kent Reporter is not naming the boy because he is being charged in juvenile court. Prosecutors also charged the boy with two counts of vehicular assault and felony hit and run.

The boy reportedly drove a 2018 silver Nissan Altima that collided with a red Mazda Protege at about 9:10 p.m. June 30 in the 9700 block of Canyon Drive, near Kent-Meridian High School, according to court documents. The boy and a female passenger ran from the car leaving a second passenger in the vehicle.

Sabrina Ali died from smoke inhalation in the backseat of the Nissan. Firefighters found her deceased after extinguishing the car fire.

Witnesses told Kent Police that the Nissan was eastbound when it crossed into the westbound lanes and collided with the Mazda. Paramedics transported the driver and passenger of the Mazda to a local hospital. The driver suffered broken bones and the passenger had pain in her chest, head and hip. Both are in their 40s and from Renton.

A witness saw a man he described as 18 to 28 years old run from the driver’s side of the Nissan and into the nearby French Field. He said the man ran with a limp and held his right leg.

On July 2, police received a call from a man who identified Ali as the girl who died. He also identified the second female passenger. That girl told officers they were getting a ride from the boy to the Birch Creek Apartments in Kent from Tukwila. She said he was driving very fast and swerved into oncoming lanes, resulting in the head-on collision.

The girl told police that the boy told her to run after the crash. She said she ran from the scene without the boy. The girl said she suffered a broken arm and bruises and cuts on her head, nose, lip, forearm and hip.

The man who called police also helped identify the driver. Police tracked the boy down and noticed he had a leg injury. Officers noted the injury appeared consistent with what a witness to the crash had told them about the driver fleeing from the Nissan. Officers also saw paperwork from a hospital for the boy for treatment of a knee injury on the night of June 30. Police arrested the boy July 2 for investigation of vehicular homicide.

Police found out on July 9 during an interview with another teen boy that the Tukwila boy had reportedly stolen the silver Nissan Altima on June 29 at Manheim Auto Auction in Kent. As many as seven vehicles were stolen that night by numerous individuals who broke into the lot where the cars were kept.

The Tukwila boy reportedly was seen driving the Nissan on June 30 at the Tukwila Community Center and at a Taco Bell, 18812 Pacific Highway S., in SeaTac, where he had two female passengers with him. Earlier, the boy had sent a Snapchat to friends of himself driving the Nissan on a freeway. The boy also reportedly sent a Snapchat after the crash of himself with his leg propped up in a hospital bed.

The boy allegedly told a friend on the phone the day before he was arrested that Ali’s death was his fault and he made comments about killing himself.