DUI driver with toddler passenger kills 2 JBLM soldiers in Pierce County wrong-way crash

The Washington State Patrol is investigating three back-to-back wrong-way crashes in Pierce County early Sunday morning involving drivers suspected of being impaired.
The first happened around 2 a.m. on SR 512 near Canyon Road and 31st Street. A woman driving with a 19-month-old baby was going the wrong way and crashed head-on into another vehicle, killing two men in the other vehicle and injuring a third man.
WSP told KOMO News the two men killed in that crash were active service members stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM), identified as Charles Fairbairn, 29, of Columbus, Georgia, who was driving, and Wendell Cerio, 22, of Sanders, Arizona. According to the WSP report, James Belanger, 22, of Caribou, Maine, was also injured in the crash and taken to the hospital.
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[@CKLee-rs4kl]

Drunk and driving with a baby in your vehicle and you kill two people. Hmmm, jail time for you sweetie.

[@Mauser1965]

If you were sober without a medical issue, how does one miss a sign that clearly states, "Wrong Way"? In the first 20 seconds one would realize this and be thinking, "Oh $h1t !" Wish the best for those who lost somebody in these incidents. How does one logically plead, "Not Guilty" when all the proof is there?

[@scottfreeman9421]

Pleading guilty automatically yields the MAXIMUM sentence for the charges. It's a legal thing. You aren't saying "i didn't do it" you're saying to the court "prove that i did it, the responsibility lies with you". But yeah i get what you're saying.

[@jillbecker8651]

They do so because their lawyers tell them to do so..

[@InaEsin]

Clearly the attorney thinks they can get their client off. Not exactly what rabbit he's going to pull out of his ass...oh wait! Let's see how many victim boxes the client ticks, let's see how many other issues caused this wreck (can't read? Can't afford eyeglasses? Anything to be someone else's fault).

[@The_Black_Knight]

Choosing to serve has a price, but not at the expense of loss of life by our own citizens.

[@emmas1082]

And most likely he was not as citizen.

[@dtrain-uwu]

I think there should be capital punishment for negligent driving. Change my mind.

[@meatpopsicle1567]

Tell me again how DUI is a victimless crime....

[@timothysmith6330]

Take away their licenses permanently

[@Golfnut_2099]

They will just drive without a license.

[@twofacegod4403]

Are you serious? They shouldn’t walk outside of prison ever

[@kharris0465]

The standards to be a licensed driver in America are extremely low. People driver over solid white and yellow lines. Lane direction is meaningless.

[@andrewknaff9220]

This person was very drunk. The standards for getting a license has nothing to do with this at all.

[@lordkreigs1978]

A) yeah because this only happens in America and all other countries on the planet are immune. B) there was no mention whether these drivers were licensed or not so you are assuming that aspect. C) name me a single country on the entire planet earth where driving while intoxicated is not illegal. I’ll wait …

[@andrewknaff9220]

A) Are you really claiming I said that someone driving the wrong way on a public road has only ever happened in America? You can’t be that stupid. I should ignore your reply on that statement alone, but I will still address the other even more idiotic points you attempt to make. B) You have a severe lack of reading comprehension. The post I was responding to assumed that they were licensed drivers and that they attained their licenses without actually learning how to drive properly. I was just responding to that statement. C) That is the entire point of my reply to the person that assumed they were untrained yet licensed drivers, that the licensing was not the issue, the driving drunk was.

[@andrewknaff9220]

@@lordkreigs1978 A) Who brought other countries into the conversation and why? That would be you. B) The commenter that I was responding to assumed licensing and I was just responding to that. Maybe you should work on your reading comprehension a little. C) That was my entire point. Thanks for reinforcing it, even if you didn’t know you were doing that.

[@lordkreigs1978]

@@andrewknaff9220 Still waiting for you to tell me what country driving intoxicated is not illegal. Backpfeifengesicht

[@sharihazlett3774]

She needs serious jail time.

[@TimothyReed-pu4yg]

With all of the wrong way crashes it seems suspicious like WTH

[@sBaum]

some kind of mind control project going on…

[@emmas1082]

Really? Some dumbass is driving while drunk- that is illegal and criminal not minding control.

[@jackie-k]

I have watched so many people drive down city streets the wrong way! People need to be held more accountable when driving!

[@dilgaf]

Whats your excuse for pleading not guilty?

[@cryptopiamania1706]

These are targeted incidents. Don't believe in coincidences

[@vonrock6862]

The concern is the Baby.

[@InaEsin]

Everyone else's, apparently.

[@alphacharlietango969]

Make DUI unlawful

[@jillbecker8651]

DUI is unlawful but our judicial system refuses to hold people responsible for their crimes..

[@michaeljacobs8458]

Sad sad sad

[@Bonjour-World]

What the heck is a "JBLM soldier" ?

[@LowkeyySailor]

military base for army soldiers located in tacoma. 2 active duty soldiers got killed.

[@briangarrow448]

A soldier stationed at Joint Base Lewis McCord.

[@dtllcmotorsportwa]

TF do you mean??? Not from hear? Can't do a simple Google search?

[@melissasmess2773]

Joe Biden's Lame Military

[@briangarrow448]

@@melissasmess2773 Really? Another Trumper with no respect for our military? Why don’t you move to Russia?

[@run4funorgo4dough]

2 cars doing 60mph crashing head on does not make a combined crash of 120mph. Watch Mythbusters!

[@celebrityrog]

The problem isn't the drivers, the problem is the layout and division of these roads - as well as minimal signage on sides of the road stating ONE WAY, How about some overheads, flashing lights, divided highway with separate grade. You know, actually invest in and expand your roads Washington. For 25 years back when I lived there, the state was moving at a snails pace and were extremely ANTI expanding freeways or adding lanes or widening major roads outside of the express lanes on I-5. It's no surprise that the slow movement of expanding rapidly the infrastructure needed to move traffic safer is still not a priority. The priority back then was worry, worry about a native species of salamander and if its habitat would be ruined by adding a lane to a busy road from Auburn to Federal Way. It wouldn't. But YEARS went by before anything was added. If you want safety, you should have built for it, rather than doing the absolute bare minimum to try to stay as rural as New Jersey when you're living in Manhattan.

[@danf1862]

Unfortunately, that isn’t how physics works. A head on crash doesn’t double the speed. Basic fundamental physics. But yeah, it still sucks to be in a head on collision.

[@melissasmess2773]

It doubles the impact speed, not the vehicle speed.

[@RemingtonArmy-]

@@melissasmess2773 Actually, it does not double the impact speed. Energy can neither be created nor destroyed.

[@lordkreigs1978]

The show MythBusters did a segment on this. They found the two vehicles colliding head on canceled out each other’s impact. Here is some text from their webpage. After research and testing was conducted, the myth was broken. It was proved that the mutual action of two vehicles colliding into the front of each other at the same speed of 50 MPH was the equivalent of 50 MPH of force. Of course, this is an affirmation of Newton's Third Law.

[@pamallinder3287]

Correct the roads, its not always a drunk

[@mgreg8134]

There is nothing wrong with the roads they are all divided highways. The only way you can be going the wrong way is to enter the freeway from an exit ramp.

[@Dragonfly_vbz]

Enforce the law. DUI stops at the freeway entrances ffs. 😢

[@royburnacoven3559]

You mean off ramp

[@Dragonfly_vbz]

@@royburnacoven3559 🫣🤫

[@dilgaf]

Washington state doesn't do DUI checkpoints as they are deemed unconstitutional

[@RemingtonArmy-]

The Washington State Patrol officer who suggested that a head-on collision between two vehicles that are each traveling at 60 mph would result in a combined impact speed of 120 mph (0:11) repeated a common error when evaluating/describing the effects of such collisions and demonstrates his misunderstanding of the physics involved. That's not how it works.

[@danf1862]

Exactly

[@melissasmess2773]

Maybe you should explain it rather than say that he is wrong. It's definitely not the same as hitting a bridge abutment at 120mph 💯☠️

[@RemingtonArmy-]

@@melissasmess2773 If two identical vehicles of exactly equal weights, each traveling at 60 mph, collided in head-on fashion on 180-degree reciprocal paths on a perfectly flat surface (zero grade and zero super-elevation), headlight-to-headlight, and both stopped 'dead in their tracks' as a result of the impact, the change in velocity (Delta V, which is a scalar quantity) for each vehicle would be the at-impact speed (60 mph) minus the post-impact speed (zero). In other words, the impact would have caused Vehicle A to go from 60 to zero in a few milliseconds and likewise for Vehicle B and the collision would be akin to striking an immovable barrier, head-on, at 60 mph. If, however, the circumstances were such that Vehicle A was traveling at 60 mph at impact and was driven rearward at 30 mph, 180-degrees relative to its pre-collision travel path, the Delta V for that vehicle would be 90 mph (60 mph in, and -30 mph out), similar to a 90 mph, head-on barrier crash. If Vehicle B, also traveling at 60 mph when the crash occurred, continued through and beyond the impact site at 30 mph (60 mph in and 30 mph out), the Delta V affecting that vehicle would be 30 mph, similar to a 30-mph, head-on barrier crash. The isn't to say that 'closing speeds' have no place in collision reconstruction; they absolutely do, but in the area of relative time/distance/position determinations. As you evidently know, real-world reconstruction of these events is far more complicated and nuanced than can be described here. Things to keep in mind are the fact that kinetic energy varies by the square of the speed and colinear momentum methodology, as opposed to angular momentum calculations, is permitted because of the relative trigonometric insignificance during head-on collisions with approach angles of less than about ten degrees.