19-year-old woman pleads guilty to vehicular homicide in death of bicycling pastor



TACOMA (AP) — A 19-year-old Washington woman pleaded guilty Wednesday to vehicular homicide in a traffic crash that fatally injured a bicycling pastor in Puyallup last Nov. 24.

The News Tribune reports (http://is.gd/nt59CU ) that Pierce County deputy prosecutor Tim Jones said Kallie James of Buckley entered her plea Wednesday in the death of Pastor Eric Renz of Puyallup.

Eric Renz



Jones says that as part of her plea, the woman admitted she was impaired by drugs when she ran a stop sign and hit Renz. Court records show she told police she had taken an anti-depressant and smoked marijuana before the crash.

The 66-year-old man died about two weeks later. He had served as a pastor in Presbyterian churches throughout the Puget Sound region and was active in the Freezing Nights campaign, which provides shelter and meals to homeless people during the winter.

James is to be sentenced June 12.