A Pierce County jury has awarded about $10.7 million to relatives and estates of five people who died in a July 16, 2023 crash on Tacoma’s Tideflats, according to the Tacoma News Tribune. Six people riding in a Kia were killed and one more person in the Kia survived with severe injuries after the vehicle was struck by a BMW at State Route 509 and Alexander Avenue East. The Washington State Patrol investigated the collision, which happened around 11:17 a.m. on a Sunday.
The Tacoma News Tribune reported that the jury, after a seven-week trial in Pierce County Superior Court, assigned fault among several parties, including the BMW driver, the Kia driver, a surviving passenger and a company tied to the BMW’s owners. According to the paper, jurors rejected claims that the City of Tacoma and WSDOT knew of intersection problems and failed to act. The Columbian, citing the Washington State Patrol, earlier reported the collision involved a 2012 Kia and a 2021 BMW X7 and that four of the six people killed were from Arizona. Prosecutors later declined to file criminal charges, according to the News Tribune.
