Woman pleads not guilty to vehicular homicide

King County Prosecutors say Sarah Adams was high June 19 when she ploughed from behind into 36-year-old Jonathan Wiger, who was then stopped on his motorcycle at a red light on 15th Street Northwest and State Route 167.

According to Auburn Police, the force of the impact hurled Wiger into another vehicle, killing him, damaged four other waiting vehicles and flipped Adams 2015 Subaru Outback onto its roof.

After the fatal accident, witnesses and first responders reported seeing dozens of hypodermic needles spilling out of Adams car. Auburn Police said that in plain view inside Adams’ car were needles that appeared to have heroin and blood mixed with heroin inside, and that Adams had pin-point pupils, consistent with opioid use.

Injured in the wreck, Adams, 47, had to be extricated from her vehicle. She was taken by ambulance to MultiCare Auburn Regional Medical Center, where she was treated and released.

At her arraignment Thursday, July 6 at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent, the Auburn woman pleaded not guilty to charges of vehicular homicide, reckless driving and violation of the Uniform Controlled Substance Act.

“The defendant failed to slow and was speeding much greater than the posted 35 mph limit,” Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Amy Freedheim wrote in her request for bail. “The motorcyclist … suffered catastrophic injuries and died at the scene. … In addition to the numerous syringes found in her car, a subsequent search of her car recovered her purse, which contained 3.5 grams of heroin and about 10 pills of Hydromorphone, a Schedule 2 narcotic analgesic.

“There is no evidence that she has a valid prescription for Hydromorphone, sold as Dilaudid, which is generally prescribed for pain. It is a derivative of morphine. Her impairment is consistent with these drugs,” Freedheim wrote.

A Superior Court judge set Adams’ bail at $250,000.

According to court services, Adams said she had only begun working on the day of the collision and had otherwise been unemployed for a year. According to police, she confirmed that she employs a full-time nanny for her minor child, who is of pre-school age, and that she has no other family.

The results of drug tests are pending.