Patrol seeks trucker after fatal I-5 crash

A truck driver who apparently failed to properly secure a tarp, causing a fatal chain-reaction accident, could be the first person to be prosecuted under the state's new Maria Federici law — if he's found.

A 23-year-old Tacoma man was killed and a 5-year-old boy was critically injured Monday night in a multivehicle crash on southbound Interstate 5 that began when the Tacoma man swerved to avoid the large maroon tarp.

State Patrol accident investigators think the tarp came from a commercial truck and probably had been used to cover a load. They are trying to track down the trucker.

Sandy James Harmon was driving on I-5 just north of 56th Street in Tacoma when he swerved to avoid the tarp, said State Patrol Trooper J.J. Gundermann. This touched off a chain-reaction accident involving five vehicles, including a tow truck that was hauling a Sound Transit bus.

Harmon died at the scene, Gundermann said.

Also in the car was Harmon's fiancée, Christina Wheeler, 24, her 5-year-old son, Austin, and the couple's 3-month-old daughter, Violette, said Harmon's father, Tom Harmon. The family was returning home from dropping off Wheeler's other son at his grandmother's house at the time of the crash, he said.

Austin was critically injured and is in a coma. Doctors removed part of his spleen, half his liver and part of his skull to relieve pressure on his brain, Tom Harmon said. Wheeler was seriously injured but was moved from St. Joseph Medical Center to Tacoma General Hospital "to be closer to Austin," who is at Mary Bridge Children's Hospital, also in Tacoma, he said. The baby was not hurt, Tom Harmon said.

He owns Harmony Trucking in Tacoma. His son just started driving for him, Tom Harmon said.

Another motorist was also taken to St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma with nonlife-threatening injuries, Gundermann said.

Gundermann said it's doubtful the tarp was on the road for very long before the accident. By law, truckers are required to inspect their rigs before and after all trips, "so somebody knows something," Gundermann said. The State Patrol is asking anyone with information about the tarp to call 253-536-4386.

The Maria Federici law was named after a Renton woman who was blinded in February 2004 after a 2-by-6-foot piece of particle board flew off a trailer on Interstate 405 and crashed through her windshield. When Federici was injured, loopholes in state law meant authorities couldn't charge James Hefley, the man responsible, with a crime. Instead, he was issued two traffic citations for $194 each.

Thanks to lobbying by Federici and her mother, Robin Abel, Maria's bill went into effect last July. Under the new law, failure to secure a load that causes an injury is now a gross misdemeanor and carries a maximum punishment of one year in jail and a $5,000 fine. The law also makes victims eligible for help from the state's Crime Victims' Compensation Fund.

Lt. Greg Pressel, a State Patrol spokesman in Olympia, said as far as he knows, his agency has never asked prosecutors to use the new law to charge a motorist.

Sara Jean Green: 206-515-5654 or sgreen@seattletimes.com