TACOMA, Wash. — Tacoma police are searching for a “vehicle of interest” in the deadly crash that took the life of Washington State Patrol Trooper Tara-Marysa Guting on Friday night.
According to a release sent out by the Tacoma Police Department on Sunday afternoon, Trooper Guting was struck by a vehicle while investigating an unrelated collision on the on-ramp to southbound SR-509 from Port of Tacoma Road. The initial impact caused the trooper to be thrown into the right travel lane of southbound SR-509, where the trooper was incapacitated and lying motionless in the roadway.
A short time later, a second vehicle, a dark-colored pickup truck, struck the trooper in the right lane. Tacoma police say that the vehicle then continued southbound on SR-509.
Police are now searching for the truck as a “vehicle of interest.”
The truck is described as a dark pickup truck, possibly black in color. It is believed to be either a Chevrolet Avalanche (four-door) or a Cadillac Escalade EXT-style pickup (four-door). The vehicle may have tinted windows, chrome door handles, and chrome running boards. No license plate information is available.
Police ask that anyone who witnessed the collision, observed the vehicle of interest, or may have dash-camera footage from southbound SR-509 in the area of Port of Tacoma Road around 7:20–7:30 p.m. contact investigators.
Tips can be directed to the Tacoma Police Department or submitted through Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.
Tacoma PD confirmed that the incident remains under active investigation.
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