Puyallup, Wash. — The driver of a truck that slammed into a taxi, killing a pregnant Puyallup woman, may have been under the influence of marijuana and other drugs at the time of the crash. Anderson Hamilton, 48, pleaded not guilty to vehicular homicide and assault.
Shanna Huttenstine, 36, died when a truck state troopers said was driven by Hamilton veered into oncoming traffic on River Road in Puyallup just after midnight Tuesday. Huttenstine was riding in a taxi cab with her boyfriend Jason Speers. Speers suffered minor injuries. Taxi driver Said Ali, 53, remains in critical condition at St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Tacoma.
“In addition to acting as though he was under the influence of drugs, the (Washington State Patrol) trooper found marijuana in his car and needles in his pocket," said Pierce County prosecuting attorney Mark Lindquist. Toxicology tests are being conducted to determine what drugs may have been in Hamilton’s system.
Hamilton recently moved to Washington from Mississippi and has a long criminal history there and in California. Hamilton wore a suicide prevention smock as he appeared in court. He was ordered held on $500,000 bail.
Hamilton was not charged with the death of Huttenstine’s unborn child because she was just 12 weeks pregnant at the time of her death.
“You can only charge someone for killing an unborn child if that child would have been viable outside of the womb," said Lindquist. “This is not that situation.”
KIRO
