A 54-year-old Tacoma man died Tuesday afternoon after crashing his motorcycle while riding north on East Valley Highway in Sumner, when he failed to navigate a corner correctly and went down between the railroad tracks and the roadway. Christopher Winchester was pronounced dead at the scene despite a friend's attempt to save him with CPR while waiting for emergency crews.
The crash happened around 1:18 pm Tuesday in the 3600 block of East Valley Highway, according to Carmen Palmer, a spokesperson for the Sumner Police Department, as reported by The News Tribune. Palmer said Winchester crashed on the west side of the road after missing the turn, landing in the space between the railroad tracks and the highway itself. Winchester was later identified through the Pierce County Medical Examiner's public portal as a Tacoma resident, the paper reported.
A friend riding with Winchester turned around after realizing something had gone wrong, called 911, and began performing CPR on him until emergency crews reached the scene, per the same account. Despite those efforts, Winchester could not be revived.
A Separate Curve Project
The highway serves the Sumner-Pacific Manufacturing and Industrial Center, according to the City of Sumner.
The HigherGov listing, dated October 27, 2026, is for the Spirit Lake Cutoff Curves project in Bonner County, Idaho, and gives a November 9, 2026 deadline.
East Valley Highway has seen deadly crashes before. In October 2013, the same corridor was the site of a fatal hit-and-run that killed 23-year-old Rachel Givens, a teacher and former high school basketball star. Crime Stoppers offered a $1,000 reward in the case, according to MyNorthwest.
Part of a Statewide Pattern
Hoodline previously reported on a fatal multi-vehicle crash near Puyallup in May.
Statewide, motorcyclist fatalities fell from a historic high in 2023. Preliminary data from the Washington Traffic Safety Commission shows statewide motorcyclist deaths fell to 104 in 2025, down from 113 in 2024 and 142 in 2023, though officials caution that figures remain elevated compared with pre-2022 averages. Motorcycles accounted for just 3% of total vehicle crashes in Washington between 2021 and 2025 but represented 16% of all traffic fatalities statewide, the commission found, noting that riders lack structural cab protections like airbags and seatbelts that passenger vehicle occupants have.
Washington law requires motorcycle riders to have an endorsement or permit. The Washington Traffic Safety Commission found that 35% of motorcyclists killed in Washington crashes over the past decade were reported as lacking an endorsement, having no driver license, or having unknown license status. Overall traffic deaths across the state dropped 10.5% to 659 in 2025, down from 737 in 2024 and 809 in 2023, though fatality figures remain higher than pre-pandemic levels.
Police cited Winchester's failure to navigate the corner as the primary factor in Tuesday's crash. It remains unclear whether speed, roadway conditions, or other factors played a role, and how the pending curve-safety upgrades might affect that stretch of East Valley Highway going forward.
