A Renton woman who was driving under the influence when her vehicle struck a stalled car on Interstate 5 in Federal Way — killing a mother and daughter on Dec. 17 — was charged with two counts of vehicular homicide on Monday.
Rocelle Lynne Harris, 29, was driving to work on Dec. 17 and told police the Honda Civic “came out of nowhere” just before her Ford Mustang struck it at 1:38 a.m., north of South 304th Street, according to court documents.
The driver of the Honda, 31-year-old Everlean I. McMillan from Tacoma and 51-year-old Samantha M. Agee from Puyallup, the passenger, were both pronounced dead at the scene. Agee was wearing her seatbelt and McMillan was not.
However, before the crash, a Washington State Patrol trooper said he was advised of the stalled Honda and observed it on the Washington State Department of Transportation traffic cameras in the second lane with its hazard lights activated. The trooper observed approximately a dozen vehicles pass the disabled vehicle safely prior to Harris, whose Ford approached the Honda at a high rate of speed, the documents continue.
The trooper said he did not see the Ford’s brake lights applied prior to the impact. He observed a “large flash of sparks” as the impact occurred.
Harris told police that prior to the crash she was driving northbound in the middle lane when she made a lane change to the right and struck the vehicle. She said she had consumed two drinks earlier that night around 8 p.m.
She was transported to St. Francis Hospital for treatment of minor injuries. At the hospital, a state trooper detected an odor of alcohol coming from Harris’s breath at approximately 2:19 a.m. A preliminary breath test taken at 2:50 a.m. showed Harris had a blood alcohol content of .092 — over the .08 legal limit.
She was arrested and booked in jail, where she is being held in lieu of $100,000 bail.
King County prosecutors noted that Harris is a threat to the community’s safety in general and to the motoring public in particular, due to her criminal history and recent history of moving violations. Harris has a prior 2008 conviction for negligent driving that was reduced from a DUI, which makes her a repeat DUI offender, according to court documents.
In addition, her driving history shows two committed infractions this year for speeding 27 mph over the speed limit in April and speeding too fast for conditions in July, as well as a pending infraction for speeding 15 mph over the limit in November.
Harris also has misdemeanor convictions, including possession of drug paraphernalia, fourth-degree assault and third-degree malicious mischief.
Her arraignment hearing is set for Jan. 4.
