Driver charged in deadly 112 mph Renton crash released on electronic home monitoring
The driver charged in the deadly crash that killed four people in Renton last month has been released from custody onto electronic home monitoring. Chase Jones, the driver charged in the 112-mph crash that killed four people in Renton, has been released from custody onto electronic home monitoring. The crash, which left one woman and three children dead and three seriously injured, occurred on March 19. Jones, who spent weeks in the hospital with broken arms and legs, has since been discharged from the hospital and placed on electronic home monitor. He is not allowed to drive any motor vehicle by court order. The judge expressed concern about future reckless behavior by Jones, stating that any vehicle with wheels can't be operated if it has wheels. Jones had previously been involved in three serious crashes in the last year related to his speeding.
Published : 4 weeks ago by https://www.facebook.com/komonews, KOMO News, Lynnanne Nguyen in
The driver charged in the deadly crash that killed four people in Renton last month has been released from custody onto electronic home monitoring.
Prosecutors say 18-year-old Chase Jones was going 112 miles an hour when he blew through a red light, killing one woman and three children. The crash also left three others seriously injured.
Jones spent weeks in the hospital following the deadly crash with broken arms and legs, according to his attorney, but has since been discharged from the hospital and was placed on electronic home monitoring Thursday morning. By court order, Jones is not allowed to drive any motor vehicle.
Melissa Cortez Coria is still traumatized by what she saw on March 19. She was stopped at a red light at 140th Avenue Southeast and Southeast 192nd Street in Renton when Jones came barreling through the intersection at 112 mph.
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“I hear a woman screaming and it got my attention,” Cortez Coria said. “I look up and I see the minivan hit me, and then I passed out.”
Andrea Hudson, 38, 12-year-old Boyd “Buster” Brown, 12-year-old Eloise Wilcoxson and 13-year-old Matilda Wilcoxson were all killed in the crash.
“It affected me mentally because of what I saw, a lot of people don’t understand,” Cortez Coria said. “I saw dead kids lying next to my car, (one of the surviving victims) I saw her literally fighting for her life.”
Records show Jones was involved in three serious crashes in the last year related to his speeding. Earlier this week, a judge set his bail at $100,000, ordering Jones to be placed on electronic home monitoring with GPS after posting bail and being released.
“I do have serious concern if there’s going to be any future reckless or harmful behavior that will hurt other people,” Judge Johanna Bender said in court Monday.
“I’m going to order that Mr. Jones not drive or operate any vehicle whatsoever, so no cars, no bicycles, no skateboards,” Bender told Jones. “If it has wheels, you cannot operate it.”
“I doubt he’ll listen to those rules because he hasn’t in the past,” Cortez Coria told KOMO News. “I’m only going to heal if he’s behind bars because I don’t want anyone else like him out on the streets. I don’t want another family going through this, I don’t want anyone else going through this.”
"While Chase Jones sits comfortably at home watching Netflix, the broken bodies of Matilda, Eloise and Buster, three innocent children, lie side by side in fresh graves, never to return home to their families," Chase Wilcoxson, the father of Eloise and Matilda, told KOMO News. "While Chase Jones shares a meal at home with his loved ones, the body of Andrea Hudson lies in a freezer at the King County Medical Examiner’s Office awaiting the day that her children Nolan and Charlotte will be well enough to attend her funeral.”
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"We demand accountability, the community demands accountability," Wilcoxson continued. "The legal system and insurance industry failed us by allowing Chase Jones to put lives at risk for 11 months before he brutally killed our loved ones. The leniency of the court in this week’s decision makes me question their commitment to accountability. I pray they won’t fail us all again."
Wilcoxson also had strong words for Jones' attorney, Brad Barshis, who called the crash a "dumb mistake" in court.
"This was no mistake. This was a willful act,” Wilcoxson said. “He never braked, never swerved, never released the accelerator. He hit that van so hard that my daughters, their friend, and teacher were killed instantly.”
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Jones will be allowed to go to school and work while on electronic home monitoring but must provide a timesheet completed by a work or school representative to verify where he is. He’ll also have to follow any curfews set by the detention staff and submit to drug tests to confirm he has not consumed any drugs without a prescription as a part of his terms of release.