Search fatalities

Karli Elizabeth Moore

Age : 23

Gender : Female

Race : White

Date : 05/09/2021

Location : US-395 and Foster Wells Road

City : Pasco

County : Franklin

State : Washington

Agency : Franklin County Sheriff's Office

Officer(s) :Deputy Mona Bolanos; Deputy Jack Dodson

Cause of Death : Vehicle

Event : Passenger killed by police chase crash

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

.
REASON FOR CHASE: Suspicious vehicle complaint
.
NARRATIVE:
On 05/09/2021 at approximately 3:40 p.m., Karli Elizabeth Moore, 23, was sitting in the front passenger seat of a Hyundai Elantra parked on her family's property on Foster Wells Road outside Pasco. A caller reported the Elantra and another vehicle as suspicious and speculated that the occupants might be using or dealing drugs. Franklin County Sheriff's Deputy Mona Bolanos was dispatched to investigate. Police had not established that a crime had occurred.
.
Bolanos approached the Elantra and reported that driver Ricky G. Cruz-Perez, 28, accelerated away as she reached his window. Deputy Jack Dodson approached from the opposite direction, turned around and joined Bolanos in pursuing the Elantra west on Foster Wells Road. Dodson activated his emergency lights and siren.
.
The pursuit covered approximately three miles. Deputies reported that Cruz-Perez drove into the opposing lane, nearly struck vehicles head-on and reached more than 100 mph. As the Elantra approached U.S. 395, both deputies said they slowed significantly, but Cruz-Perez ran the stop sign and entered the highway directly in front of a southbound tractor-trailer. The semi struck the passenger side where Moore was sitting, killing her at the scene.
.
Cruz-Perez was critically injured, transported first to Kadlec Regional Medical Center and then flown to Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, where he died from his injuries. Semi driver Harold Matuterivera, 40, was not injured. The pursuit therefore resulted in two deaths.
.
Karli was born in Kennewick and grew up in Pasco. As a child she was selected for an advanced academic program and later earned high-school and college credits while still in middle school. Her family remembered her as an avid reader who loved animals, music, calligraphy, milkshakes and baking; she had a particular bond with her dog Percy Purse and was described as a “dog whisperer.”
.
Karli's father, Joe Moore Jr., publicly challenged the decision to pursue. He had left the property to buy his daughter a milkshake and returned to find the aftermath of the crash, initially not knowing Karli was the passenger who had been killed. Three months later, he said the day continually replayed in his mind and questioned how a call about a suspicious vehicle had ended with his daughter's death.
.
At Sheriff Jim Raymond's request, the Washington State Patrol Major Accident Investigation Team conducted an independent investigation. Records subsequently released under Washington's Public Records Act identified Bolanos and Dodson and showed that deputies pursued the Elantra from the Moore property to Highway 395. The investigation was to be forwarded to the Franklin County Prosecutor's Office for review.
.
No later public record located documents a wrongful-death lawsuit or settlement filed by Moore's family.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND:
Deputy Ramona “Mona” Bolanos initiated the encounter and Deputy Jack Leo Dodson joined the pursuit. Bolanos had previously participated in a 2018 vehicle pursuit involving people wanted in an armed robbery; that pursuit included attempted PIT maneuvers and ended with arrests. Dodson had joined the Franklin County Sheriff's Office in August 2019 and, one month before Moore's death, was named the department's Deputy of the Quarter for the first quarter of 2021. County records show Dodson remained a Franklin County deputy after Moore's death and was still employed by the county in subsequent years.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://komonews.com/news/local/police-chase-ends-in-deadly-crash-near-pasco-in-eastern-wash
https://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/local/crime/article251289824.html
https://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/local/crime/article253124273.html
https://elkhornmediagroup.com/pursuit-ends-with-fatality/
https://newstalk870.am/car-pursued-by-deputy-before-fatal-395-crash-north-of-pasco/
https://newstalk870.am/driver-in-highway-395-foster-wells-road-crash-dies-in-spokane/