WASHINGTON — Newly released body camera video shows the moment of impact when a person suspected of driving under the influence of drugs drove the wrong way on 2nd Avenue, slamming head-on into a Puyallup Police Officer.
“I’m trapped, car’s on fire,” the officer says to his radio after the airbag deploys.
The driver was spotted by an officer already arresting someone suspected of DUI just as the Washington State Fair ended Friday evening, according to Puyallup police.
Those were the first of 30 suspected DUI drivers over the Labor Day weekend.
“It’s tragic that our officer got hit. Thank God he’s okay, but I think about if our officer didn’t get in the way and stop that vehicle, that could have been a citizen or a family just driving home,” said Captain Jeremy Hendrick, with Puyallup police.
In King County, Washington State Patrol arrested 25 DUI suspects, King County Sheriff’s Office caught 13 more, and other municipalities had their own DUI arrests.
“Any DUI arrest, any DUI collisions are 100% preventable,” Trooper Rick Johnson with the State Patrol said. “Especially these days...there are so many ways to get from Point A to Point B if you choose to consume something that will impair you.”
Washington State Patrol and Puyallup police were some of several law enforcement agencies to bring extra personnel and cruisers for DUI enforcement over the long holiday weekend.
WSP troopers take arrest and crash data to decide where to target enforcement.
“It’s geomapping areas to emphasize those areas which historically have been a problem in order to prevent anything bad from happening and removing bad drivers,” Johnson said.
The Washington Traffic Safety Commission (WTSC) reported more crashes taking place since the pandemic. In 2019, 267 people were killed in DUI crashes compared to 344 people who were killed in those kinds of crashes in 2024.
The WTSC reported half of all fatal crashes involve a person suspected of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
“Impaired driving is the number one risk factor we see in fatal crashes,” Mark McKechnie, the external relations director for WTSC.
In response to rising crashes, the Washington state lawmakers requested the WTSC to find ways to curb DUIs in the state. The Commission proposes:
- Re-establishing DUI checkpoints
- Lower the blood-alcohol limit from 0.08 to 0.05
- Use road-side body fluid tests to test for drugs that aren’t alcohol
- Crack down on people not using interlock devices who should be
After the Washington Supreme Court rulings, DUI checkpoints were deemed illegal in the state.
The WTSC estimates, based on data from other states and countries that have them, 12 deaths and 418 injuries by impaired drivers were prevented by DUI checkpoints. p The $6 million investment would prevent more than $30 million in damages for victims, the study estimates.
“The impact is a combination of prevention and intervention because part of what you do when you run a checkpoint is you publicize them. You want people to know that there’s a checkpoint so, it provides a deterrence to prevent people from driving impaired in the first place.” McKechnie said.
McKechnie points to the report showing that lowering the blood alcohol limit would have double the preventable effect on lives lost and injuries caused by impaired drivers. He points to several other countries and states that have lower BAC limits than Washington.
“By leaving our ‘limit’ per se at 0.08 percent, it unfortunately seems to be sending the public the wrong message that they’re okay to drive until they’re at 0.08 percent or above and that’s simply not true,” McKechnie said.
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