A series of incidents involving Washington State Patrol (WSP) troopers being struck by vehicles has raised concerns about roadway safety for emergency responders. The latest such event occurred early yesterday morning on State Route 512 in Pierce County, where a trooper was rear-ended while assisting a driver with a disabled vehicle, as reported by KING 5. The trooper who was in his patrol car pushing the disabled vehicle at the time suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to the hospital.
According to KOMO News, this incident is the fifth involving WSP troopers in just a week. The string of collisions began with a trooper's SUV being hit in Kittitas County and continued with accidents involving a trooper on I-90 and one in Lakewood. In all of these cases, the injuries were reported to be minor, non-life-threatening.
The situation took a graver turn on Friday when Trooper Tara-Marysa Guting was struck and killed by a vehicle on State Route 509. In a separate, possibly related event, Tacoma Police are searching for a dark-colored pickup truck that may have hit Guting after the initial collision. This second vehicle, identifiable by tinted windows, chrome handles, and chrome running boards, did not remain at the scene, leaving authorities calling for public assistance to locate it. Details were shared in a press release featured by Fox 13 Seattle.
"He's in good spirits and he's positive," WSP Trooper Kameron Watts told KING 5, describing the morale of the trooper involved in the Sunday incident. Following these repeated occurrences, WSP has assigned troopers from other areas to cover the Tacoma and Pierce County regions to allow those who knew Guting to grieve and, hopefully, to prevent further on-duty injuries or worse.
With increased dangers facing state patrol personnel on Washington roads, officials urge drivers to exercise heightened caution when approaching emergency vehicles. Those with information regarding the incidents or the suspect vehicle in Trooper Guting's death are encouraged to come forward and aid in ongoing investigations.
