By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Authorities may never know why 16-year-old Tyler S. Gonzalez was laying on a county road in the middle of the night before he was run over and killed by a full-sized SUV, but they know he was drunk and had wandered away from an underage party where liquor had been supplied by adults.
The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office is asking prosecutors to charge a pair of 22-year-old Chehalis women with furnishing liquor to a minor, a gross misdemeanor. The crime has a maximum penalty of 364 days in jail.
Lewis County Sheriff Steve Mansfield called it a sad, tragic and preventable accident. The sheriff fixes the blame on both the Chehalis teenager who drank and the two women who bought alcohol for kids that night.
“The initial actions of these two women ultimately set things in motion for the tragedy to occur,” Mansfield stated in a news release.
The suspects, Talia Date and Megan Day have not been arrested.
The W.F. West High School sophomore died from multiple internal injuries about 2:30 a.m. on May 12 on Brockway Road near Chilvers in Adna, about a mile west of Interstate 5 at Chehalis. The Washington State Patrol said a 50-year-old Onalaska woman rounded a slight right hand curve when she hit him. They noted there are no street lights in the area and they did not expect to file any charges against the driver.
The sheriff’s office has said about 10 young people were drinking beer and hard liquor in a shop building that sits back from a home on the 100 block of Brockway Road. The parents were asleep in the house and unaware a party was in progress, the sheriff’s office has said.
Tyler’s blood alcohol level was measured at .17, according to the sheriff’s office. That’s more than twice the legal limit for driving.
Mansfield said investigators don’t really know why he was laying on the roadway. They don’t know if he was sleeping, passed out or perhaps laid down to rest, the sheriff’s said.
Tyler and another boy, both of whom were extremely intoxicated, walked away from the party, the sheriff said.
“We know some friends were looking for him, there was a mix up about who was with who,” he said.
The sheriff said the young women didn’t attend the gathering; one of them was a relative of one of the young men at the party.
Mansfield called purchasing alcohol for kids and kids drinking totally irresponsible behavior that led to the loss of a life.
“This is a serious problem in our community,” he said.
“So the message is, wise up folks,” he said. “The consequences for this are huge.”
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
I have seen drunk people lay down on the center line while cars pass by. This is what probaly happened. But lets look at the Real Picture here. Alcohol is like Herion and Herion is very addicting, Alcohol’s effects cause people to black out and not recall what they have done. Substances are always going to be abused. Maybe if the State of Washington, wasn’t so Hard on Cannabis “Marijuana” these young adults could of been enjoying a nicer time on a more dependable high. Now Alcohol is avaliable at your local Grocery Store, But a Medical Marijuana Facility is no where to be found in Lewis County, and Marijuana Didn’t kill anyone In Lewis County this year. This makes Perfect sense, Alcohol Kills,Legal…. Marijuana No Deaths Ever, Illegal. Welcome to the Nanny State. Check out these cops, they know what time it is….http://www.leap.cc/
Predators?? Kids will get beer from anyone it wont stop it hasnt stopped im sure you drank before you were 21 so shut your mouth… Tyler didnt get the beer from those girls he had his own beer when he showed to the party and the pairents that have the shop the kids had the party knew about it, just like many pairents done FOR MANY YEARS… Keep track of your kids better and lock them in there rooms tell there 21 and they wont drink
What about the parents who were “asleep” and “unaware” of this underage party at their house? It’s a parent’s responsibility to know what’s going on in their house and what their kids are up to. There is no way the parent’s had no idea there was a party with kids drinking massive amounts of alcohol in their backyard.
If a blame must be set for this terrible tragedy it must be put on the the irresponsible parents who were on the property letting minors drink themselves to death.
My heart goes out to Tyler’s family, this should have never happened.
Unfortunately, this sort of thing will happen as long as there are kids around. Age and laws will make no difference, never have. When and IF we have a police society it will slow it down, and yet even then there will be moonshiners.
One of those so called “adults” works with children for a living! How abhorrent.
I hear from people all the time ” They’re gonna do it anyway, so they might as well do it here.” Grown-ups always want kids to think they are cool , but when kids drink they do not think. You can maybe control your own children but you cannot control the whole herd. And if you are drinking also there is another problem. I am very fortunate to be able to take it or leave it , but my children are another story and we have had battles over it. Now the Grands are gettin old enough to think about drinkin so here we go again. I think alcohol is the drug we should be fighting in this country . I have seen more devastation from that then any drug I know.
How many Lewis County kids have to die before so called “adults” stop buying kids booze or dope?
It’s time to make an example out of the predators who drug our kids to death in hopes others get the message.