Still no charges in crash that killed Port Orchard woman

Nearly six months after a Port Orchard woman was killed by a suspected impaired driver on her way home from work, charges have yet to be filed against the other driver.

Kitsap Deputy Prosecutor Andy Anderson said the details surrounding the Jan. 21 accident that killed Port Orchard mother Jessica Z. Torres “turned out to be more complicated than we anticipated,” and that “nothing has been filed yet.”

Torres, 34, was killed when she was driving home from work that Monday and her car collided with one driven by a 32-year-old North Kitsap man after it crossed the center line on Clear Creek Road.

A preliminary analysis by deputies indicated that the male driver was likely speeding before the accident. In addition, investigators believe he had ingested both alcohol and narcotics prior to driving.

Following his release from Harrison Medical Center, the North Kitsap man was arrested and booked into the Kitsap County Jail on suspicion of vehicular homicide and held on $100,000 bail.

However, he was soon released and charges are still pending.

Asked if his office had received toxicology reports on the driver, Prosecutor Anderson said he would not speak to any specifics, but that the case was still being investigated.

In 2004, nearly six months elapsed between the accident that killed two young people and when charges were filed against South Kitsap resident Brian Berry, who later pleaded guilty to two charges of vehicular homicide.

On June 23, 2004, witnesses said Berry ran a stop sign after admittedly drinking beer and crashed into the car that held a 23-year-old Bremerton woman, a 25-year-old South Kitsap man and another 31-year-old man. Only the 31-year-old victim survived.

In November, Berry was arraigned on two counts of vehicular homicide and was later sentenced to 8 years.

The following year, a 29-year-old Belfair woman was reportedly under the influence of both drugs and alcohol when her car struck another driven by a 27-year-old Silverdale woman, who died in the crash.

The crash occurred in January, and three months later Tera Cash was charged and pleaded guilty to one count of vehicular homicide. She was sentenced to more than five years in prison.

Last year, a 41-year-old Port Orchard man was killed while riding his bicycle last September. According to the incident report, Delores Magneson, now 60, said the sun blocked her view as she drove and she did not see him before striking and killing him.

The following January, Magneson was charged with vehicular homicide in Hatt’s death, but according to court documents the trial date has so far been delayed several times.

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