Vehicular homicide trial starts next week

A man accused of causing a fatal accident two years ago is scheduled to go to trial next week.

Jeromy Ladwig is facing a vehicular homicide charge in the crash that killed 18-year-old Keesha Harden of Coupeville on May 2, 2016.

Prosecutors charged Ladwig under all three “prongs” of the vehicular homicide charge. Under the law, a driver who caused a fatility is guilty of vehicular homicide if he or she was operating a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or a drug, in a reckless manner, or with disregard for the safety of others.

If convicted of the charge, Ladwig could face more than 20 years in prison under the standard sentencing range.

A toxicology report from the Washington State Patrol’s crime lab showed that Ladwig had methamphetamine in his system at the time of the accident, according to court documents.

A trooper with the Washington State Patrol investigated the collision. Ladwig, Harden and Randon Koepke, 32, were in a 2001 Ford Mustang in the parking lot of Joseph Whidbey State Park on North Whidbey about 4:15 a.m., according to the report,

Ladwig accelerated quickly, causing the Mustang to fishtail, and went through a stop sign at the park’s exit without stopping. He continued on to West Beach Road at a high rate of speed, according to the trooper’s report.

The Mustang was struck by an eastbound 2004 Dodge Dakota pickup driven by Nathan Dee, 26, of Oak Harbor.

Harden, the front seat passenger, suffered a broken hip as well as head and internal injuries. She died during surgery at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, the report states.

Dee was transported to Whidbey General Hospital by a family member; he was treated and released. Koepke was treated for knee and foot injuries and released from the hospital.

Ladwig suffered a broken clavicle, multiple broken ribs and a head injury, the trooper wrote.

A deputy at the scene found a broken glass pipe and a plastic bag of suspected methamphetamine in a backpack belonging to Koepke, the report states.