The boyfriend of one of two teenage girls killed in a single-vehicle crash Monday night has been charged with two counts of vehicular homicide.
Charges were filed against Robert Allen Rundquist Jr., 20, in Kitsap County District Court Tuesday.
According to his Facebook page, Rundquist is a student at Discovery Alternative High School in Port Orchard.
Court records stated Rundquist was convicted of reckless driving, driving without a license and obstruction of a law enforcement officer in 2010. He also was cited for speeding last year.
If convicted of vehicular homicide, the maximum penalty is life in prison and/or a $50,000 fine for each count.
Killed in Monday’s crash were 18-year-old Rebekah F. Barrett, Rundquist’s girlfriend, and 17-year-old Shanaia R. Bennett. Another girl, 17-year-old Michelle Gregory, suffered minor injuries. All three girls were in a 1994 Toyota Camry sedan that was traveling northbound on Baby Doll Road.
Charging papers stated a witness told Kitsap County Sheriff’s deputies that he was smoking outside his residence on Baby Doll Road when he heard the sound of high revving car engines and saw two vehicles traveling northbound at a high rate of speed. He told investigators that the vehicles were side by side as if they were racing.
The witness said both vehicles left his field of vision, but he heard the sound of tires screeching and the sound of a car crashing, court documents stated.
Rundquist, who was driving a 1997 Toyota pickup, told investigators he turned onto Baby Doll Road from Mile Hill Drive and that he was following the Camry, driven by Barrett. He said as they traveled northbound on the road, both cars passed the same vehicles at an estimated speed between 50 and 60 mph, court records stated.
Court documents stated that Rundquist said, at one point, Barrett tried to pass him and both vehicles were side by side for about 5-10 seconds between 60 and 65 mph, then he backed off and let Barrett re-enter the northbound lane. Rundquist said that he and Barrett passed another northbound vehicle before she approached another vehicle, hit the brakes and lost control.
Deputy Scott Wilson, KCSO spokesman, said Rundquist was arrested and booked into Kitsap County Jail on two counts of vehicular homicide, based on reckless driving/racing as contributing factors in the cause of the fatal crash.
Wilson said Rundquist remains in jail on a single charge of vehicular homicide with bail set at $100,000.
