Charges brought in Bonney Lake traffic fatality

Legal proceedings continued this week for a woman behind the wheel of a small car that flew over a hill in Bonney Lake and crashed into a tree, killing a friend.

Legal proceedings continued this week for a woman behind the wheel of a small car that flew over a hill in Bonney Lake and crashed into a tree, killing a friend.

Scheduled for arraignment Tuesday was McKenzie Krakow, 19, who has been charged by the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office with one count each of vehicular homicide and reckless endangerment.

Her charges stem from a Sept. 11, 2016, accident in the 18600 block of 160th Street East.

According to charging papers filed in Pierce County Superior Court, Krakow was driving a 2016 Kia Forte shortly after 5 p.m., eastbound on 160th. Mackenzie Rae Martin, an 18-year-old who had graduated from Sumner High a few months earlier, was in the front passenger seat and a 16-year-old friend was in a back seat. Krakow and the 16-year-old were wearing seat belts; Martin was not.

Investigation revealed the Kia became airborne and flew nearly 150 feet before slamming into the pavement and swerving out of control. The car first struck a sign and then crashed into trees.

Emergency medical personnel pronounced Martin deceased at the scene and a police report noted she was approximately 20 feet from where the Kia had come to a stop.

An officer interviewed the driver, who initially said she was traveling about 40 miles per hour when she crested a hill and lost control of the vehicle. Upon further questioning, the driver said she had perhaps been going 50 mph. The posted speed limit on that stretch of road is 25 mph.

Deputies later obtained a search warrant and downloaded data from the Kia’s airbag control module. The recovered data showed that within five seconds of the airbags deploying, the vehicle had accelerated from 63 mph to 80 mph.

The driver and the back-seat passenger suffered only minor injuries.