Crash victims identified

Potential charges pending results of bloodwork

Matt Baide | Sep 15, 20220

The person believed to have caused the three-car accident that claimed the lives of Rita L. Lyman of Shelton and Duane M. Wharton of Olympia last Wednesday on U.S. Highway 101 near Shelton said he recalls drifting toward the centerline and hearing his wife scream, according to incident reports.

According to a Washington State Patrol news release, Wharton, 58, was driving the dump truck and Lyman, 66, was driving the Toyota 4Runner that the truck crushed.

The Mazda driver, Mitchell Larsen, 66, caused the accident, according to the WSP. He crossed the centerline and struck the dump truck on the driver’s side, rotating the gravel-loaded truck as it tipped onto its passenger side, landing atop the 4Runner. The road was blocked for more than six hours.

According to an investigation report from the WSP, responding Washington State Patrol officer Cody Pratt said a WSP trooper who was a certified drug recognition expert went to Mason General Hospital to assess Larsen. The expert told Pratt over the phone that based on his observation, “Mitchell was impaired by a depressant or narcotic substance.”

While speaking with the expert, Larsen said he was on his way to a methadone clinic and does not know what happened, according to the WSP report. He said, according to the report, he visits the clinic daily to get medication, taking methadone due to a previous addiction to oxycodone. After running out of a prescription, he continued to buy oxycodone before quitting in December. He said the methadone is used for pain management, according to the report.

Larsen eventually said he recalled some of the collision, according to the report. He said he drifted toward the centerline and saw the dump truck coming toward him. He heard his wife, Gloria, who sustained minor injuries, scream or yell and he might have swerved.

A search warrant for blood was requested through Mason County Superior Court and the blood draw was completed by Mason General lab staff four hours after the collision.

According to Mason County Prosecuting Attorney Michael Dorcy, charges for Larsen are under review and he has not been charged at this time.

“Particularly since the court released Mr. Larsen on his personal recognizance, we will likely wait until we have the outcome of the blood work, which we don’t have yet and will need,” Dorcy wrote in an email in the Journal. “We will also be waiting until we have at least the WSP investigation file to review. As I understand it, blood toxicology analysis is running about six to nine months even on a rush, and recently the courts have clamped down on the ability to continue the trial in a charged case in order to accommodate forensic blood testing when it’s due to the backlogs at the crime laboratory division of the Washington State Patrol. My office has been in contact with the families of the victims and explained this situation.”