By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The two young women accused of buying alcohol for a teenage party in Adna that ended when a 16-year-old boy was run over and killed are being charged not only with furnishing liquor to minors but with reckless endangerment.
Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer indicated in a prepared statement today the tragic death of Tyler S. Gonzalez underscores the serious problem of underage drinking and the need to confront the issues surrounding the problem immediately.
Gonzalez was drunk when he wandered away from the party and either laid down, passed out or went to sleep on the roadway in the middle of the night on May 12, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. He died at the scene on the 100 block of Brockway Road after a full-sized SUV ran over the top of him.
Prosecutors allege Talia R. Date and Megan M. Day bought beer from Wal-Mart and whiskey and vodka from a nearby liquor store at the request of one of the attendees at the small gathering.
Both women are 22 and from Chehalis.
Day is the older sister of one of the 16-year-old boys from the party, according to charging documents.
Reckless endangerment is a misdemeanor in which one “recklessly engaged in conduct that created a substantial risk of death or serious physical injury to another person.”
Charges were filed Monday in Lewis County District Court, according to Meyer.
Meyer noted in his statement that alcohol is the most used and abused drug among today’s youth.
“Youth from the ages of 12 to 20 years of age account for 11 percent of all alcohol consumed in the United States and 90 percent of that is consumed in the form of binge drinking,” Meyer wrote.
He provided numbers from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention that note in 2008, there were approximately 190,000 emergency room visits resulting from alcohol related issues by people under the age of 21.
Charging documents allege essentially what the sheriff’s office has already said publicly.
Detectives learned several young people – ages 16 through 18 – were gathered in a shop building at 17-year-old Tyler Ketchum’s home, according to charging documents. The shop on the property is referred to a “Tyler’s shed.”
The sheriff’s office has said Ketchum’s parents were asleep in the house and unaware of a party.
The documents allege the following:
Somewhere between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. one of them, a 16-year-old boy called his sister and asked her to buy alcohol.
Day and Date showed up to pick up the money the young people pitched in, as well as a “wish list. Three of the young people went to the store with the women.
The purchases included a 30-pack of Busch beer, a 12-pack of Bud Light, at least one bottle of Wild Turkey whiskey and two bottles of Skyy vodka.
Gonzalez and Raquem Hankins arrived around midnight, and everyone except Hankins was drinking. One 17-year-old boy passed out outside the building for a number of hours.
Gonzalez and another boy, both of whom were extremely intoxicated, walked away from the party, the sheriff has said.
Gonzalez’s blood alcohol level was measured after his death at .17, according to the sheriff’s office. That’s more than twice the legal limit for driving.
The W.F. West High School sophomore died from multiple internal injuries about 2:30 a.m. on May 12. His death is not mentioned in the actual charges.
Day told a detective this was the first time she had bought alcohol for her brother and his friends when they were not going to be staying at her house, according to the charging documents. Date said they normally only let them drink at the house because they know they will stay there, the documents state.
Each woman is charged with six counts of furnishing liquor to a minor and seven counts of reckless endangerment. One count of reckless endangerment is in relation to Gonzalez.
They are not specifically charged with furnishing alcohol to Gonzalez, because they didn’t know he was going to be there drinking, according to Meyer.
Both offenses carry a maximum penalty of 364 days in jail and / or a $5,000 fine.