Charge: High driver killed teen pedestrian
SEATTLE -- A Buckley man accused of running over a teen as he walked hand-in-hand with his girlfriend has been charged with vehicular homicide.
King County prosecutors contend Cody R. Money was high on marijuana and prescription painkillers when he drove into 16-year-old Justin Relethford on Halloween. Money, 20, is alleged to have had a blood-marijuana level nearly twice the legal limit hours after the fatal crash.
Relethford and his 15-year-old girlfriend were walking on state Route 410 near Enumclaw just before 8 p.m. on Halloween when Money approached them.
According to charging documents, Money let his Nissan Titan pickup drift over the fog line as he answered his ringing mobile phone. Money didn't even brake before the truck slammed into Relethford just south of the Enumclaw city limits. The truck narrowly missed the teen girl holding Relethford's hand.
Speaking with police, the girl said Relethford insisted she walk closer to the road's shoulder moments before the crash.
"Switch sides with me," Relethford told the girl, according to her account. "I wouldn't be able to live with myself if anything happened to you."
Relethford died before aid could arrive. The girl suffered a minor injury to her arm.
Money allegedly admitted he was looking at his phone when he slammed into Relethford.
"It … all happened so fast," Money told the officer, according to charging papers. "I looked up and that was it."
Writing the court, a State Patrol detective said Money admitted to smoking marijuana shortly before the crash and to taking a painkiller-derived drug often prescribed to help opiate addicts overcome addiction. He claimed to have stopped smoking painkillers the month before.
Money tested positive for oxycodone - a prescription pain medication - as well as marijuana during a blood draw conducted three hours after the crash, the detective told the court. Money is alleged to have registered an active THC level of 9.5, nearly double the 5 nanograms-per-milliliter standard set under the state's marijuana decriminalization law.
Money has been charged with vehicular homicide. He has not been jailed in the case.
King County prosecutors contend Cody R. Money was high on marijuana and prescription painkillers when he drove into 16-year-old Justin Relethford on Halloween. Money, 20, is alleged to have had a blood-marijuana level nearly twice the legal limit hours after the fatal crash.
Relethford and his 15-year-old girlfriend were walking on state Route 410 near Enumclaw just before 8 p.m. on Halloween when Money approached them.
According to charging documents, Money let his Nissan Titan pickup drift over the fog line as he answered his ringing mobile phone. Money didn't even brake before the truck slammed into Relethford just south of the Enumclaw city limits. The truck narrowly missed the teen girl holding Relethford's hand.
Speaking with police, the girl said Relethford insisted she walk closer to the road's shoulder moments before the crash.
"Switch sides with me," Relethford told the girl, according to her account. "I wouldn't be able to live with myself if anything happened to you."
Relethford died before aid could arrive. The girl suffered a minor injury to her arm.
Money allegedly admitted he was looking at his phone when he slammed into Relethford.
"It … all happened so fast," Money told the officer, according to charging papers. "I looked up and that was it."
Writing the court, a State Patrol detective said Money admitted to smoking marijuana shortly before the crash and to taking a painkiller-derived drug often prescribed to help opiate addicts overcome addiction. He claimed to have stopped smoking painkillers the month before.
Money tested positive for oxycodone - a prescription pain medication - as well as marijuana during a blood draw conducted three hours after the crash, the detective told the court. Money is alleged to have registered an active THC level of 9.5, nearly double the 5 nanograms-per-milliliter standard set under the state's marijuana decriminalization law.
Money has been charged with vehicular homicide. He has not been jailed in the case.
I didn't know there was a "legal limit" for marijuana set before the voters had so-called legalized it in November.
@johnbe There shouldn't have been. The 5ng intoxication level was one of the reasons why I was going to vote no for legalization. Not enough research has been done regarding intoxication levels of pot.Â
"Both the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the National Institute on Drug Abuse have stated that marijuana impairment testing via blood sampling is unreliable. This determination is based on the lack of a reliable metric, and thus the inability to accurately quantitatively determine marijuana impairment.
To even begin to determine the magnitude of intoxication and/or impairment of an individual suspected of being under the influence of marijuana, behavioral tests would have to be performed. While be it controversial, some states have instituted legal limits for THC blood levels. This is not due to intoxication or impairment, but a zero tolerance policy because in those states marijuana is a not legal, and thus no one should have it in their system."
http://expertpages.com/news/Assessing_Marijuana_Intoxication.htm
@Tattooed_Angel2Â @johnbeÂ
There shouldn't have been, and there wasn't. Not back in October. The laws, as controversial as they are, were not even voted on until November.
Our state has now voted for yet another way to drive impaired.
@jjccamis Newsflash- people driving while high isn't new.Â
True, but now getting high is "legal".Â
@Content_People Not while driving it isn't.
"Money, 20, is alleged to have had a blood-marijuana level nearly twice the legal limit hours after the fatal crash."
This doesn't surprise me one bit. The legal limit they have now is ridiculously low.Â
I find it humorous that when something bad happens concerning pot all the advocates have nothing to add in defense of people who smoke it and drive impaired. I mean how do you explain the fact that he was high on pot and his THC level was so great?
@missyk Actually the big culprit would probably be the Oxycodone he had in his system,..... Nevertheless he should do some serious time for this...Should not have driven period. As well should not have been trying to answer a dam## cell phone while driving either.....
@missyk I don't defend ANYONE that drives impaired, whether it be pot, alcohol, pills, whatever. He drove impaired and I say lock his butt up!Â
My only concern is that even hours after the accident, he still had a blood-level of nearly twice the legal limit for pot. As someone who is "pro-pot" I wasn't going to vote for legalization BECAUSE of the legal limit of 5 nanograms. There is not enough testing done to provide facts regarding at what blood-level are marijuana users actually impaired.Â
I wonder how many folks telling everyone not to "blame the weed" are the ones that "blame guns."Â
I'm so sick and tired putting up with people driving and using their cell phones! If you can call it driving....if you ask me that's what caused this terrible death.
@mune237 Well, it certainly couldn't be that he was high. I mean, after all, people who use pot would never be so impaired to drive.(smh)
It's not weed, this guy's just a loser plain and simple. Painkiller addiction, distracted driving...sounds like he's not the brightest or most responsible guy in the backwoods. Toss him in a hole for ten years then let him out, maybe he'll have learned something by then.
LOL Really?
Don't blame the weed people.Â
I hate the media when they spin these stories to make you believe that the weed had anything to do with this. Blame the Painkillers the guy smoked. My neighbor has a grandson that was smoking Oxycontin and I'm here to tell ya that it turned him into a friggin Zombie. He stole everything from his grandmother and did whatever it took to get money to buy more. These kids smoke these pills and it makes them seem like their brain dead when you try to talk to them. Their brain is so fried they talk gibberish.  BAD BAD BAD!!!
Well, KOMO, in your standard stupidity, you assume that the 5 nanograms per milliliter of blood standard somehow applies to this case. This was in October. Initiative 502 did not take effect until December 6th, so even MENTIONING it makes you look dumber than dumb.
But it certainly helps point to the fact that the guy was not only high on painkillers, but also on weed. The guy should not have been driving, period. Whether he was on painkillers and/or weed. It was a combination of both, not one or the other - but both. By stating how much TCH was in his system lends to the fact that the guy was high, that is all.Â
"He claimed to have stopped smoking painkillers the month before."Â
Well that did it, right there. I didn't know you could SMOKE painkillers!
Seriously though, when taking meds or smoking them (pot), or drinking for that matter, PLEASE don't drive. Think of YOUR family, let alone others. Let's bring common sense back in style!!! This should have never happened. Teach your kids common sense. Parents are forgetting the essential basics. You should never be too busy to relate stories in the news like these. Kids hear you. Don't wait for them to learn it on their own, the HARD way. START NOW!
Â
my sympathy goes out to this boys family... but this story completely irritates me!... they are stressing the fact that he was high on pot to why this tragic accident happened... it appears to me that being high on other drugs and perhaps because he ANSWERED HIS CELL phone was the most likely if not the total reason this accident happened, but no, they are going to focuss on the marjuana part, of course they would!... i agree with the other writer, the state cant prove if a person smoked pot today or a month ago, they cant figure out how to regulate it, grow it, test it, sell it and tax it, yet they have this test all of a sudden to say how much people have in their system?  what a flippin joke for them to completely focus and make it the headlines that pot caused it... what about the cell phone?? the other drugs?? SHAME ON YOU KOMOÂ
@rzrfun It is a PI/Times article.
Absolutely nothing good can come of this, but at least the driver didn't run like some of the other cowards have lately.
He was probably un able to run in his condition.
As I was reading this story I was thinking this kid could have been my son walking with his girlfriend. Too close to home. Makes one's blood run cold. So very sad. His girlfriend must have been horrified and I'm sure traumatized. My heart breaks for this kid's family and girlfriend. Not to mention a life ended too soon. The kid who made horrible choices & killed him will forever live with the guilt.
Had KOMO simply reported that the driver, while texting and while under the influence of oxycontin and marijuana, ran down this kid, there wouldn't be a discussion here. I think it was the reporters choice of words that's at issue right now.
You can sniff out some of the users in this thread because they try to dispute the fact that marijuana impairment may have been a factor in this tragedy. Oxycodone and texting may have been a factor as well, but to state that the marijuana use is no consequence here is just plain ridiculous (some of these same folks would have you believe they drive much more 'cautiously' and 'safer' after a few tokes) Â
It is all in their stoned minds. No one thinks their impaired when they are high. Morons.
My condolences to the family of the victim. I have an issue with the focus on mj, this guy obviously has no responsible bones in his body, on a mix of drugs and texting all while driving. Vehicles are dangerous and this guy shouldn't be allowed to be behind the wheel of a car. Texting while driving has skyrocketed vehicle accidents at an incredible rate. Yet we are going to focus on his blood thc level? This guy is an idiot plain and simple yet those apposed to i-502 will try to use him as the poster child to support their fear based propoganda and cherry pick mj out of the whole situation to demonize it. This is not an example of the majority of those involved with i-502 or the medicinal field.
So what makes him and idiot and some other pot smoker who is driving not an idiot? Inquiring minds want to know?
This comment has been deleted
Combinations of anything are bad. Combine weed with almost any other intoxicating substance and your head is spinning. This isn't a death caused by marijuana.Â
But mj certainly lent a hand in it.
@jlynnhood This is just the media trying to demonize pot some more. Rationalize it any way you want; marijuana did not kill this teen and is not a danger to the community in itself.Â
@StringerJoeHematologic side effects have included increased blood fibrinolytic activity. In addition, hypoprothrombinemia, thrombocytopenia, thrombocyturia, megaloblastic anemia, and pancytopenia have been reported rarely. Aplastic anemia and eosinophilia have also been reported.
Hypersensitivity side effects have included bronchospasm, rhinitis, conjunctivitis, urticaria, angioedema, and anaphylaxis.
Renal side effects have included reduction in glomerular filtration rate (particularly in patients who are sodium restricted or who exhibit diminished effective arterial blood volume, such as patients with advanced heart failure or cirrhosis), interstitial nephritis, papillary necrosis, elevations in serum creatinine, elevations in blood urea nitrogen, proteinuria, hematuria, and renal failure.
Cardiovascular side effects have included salicylate-induced variant angina, ventricular ectopy, conduction abnormalities, and hypotension, particularly during salicylate toxicity.
Those are all adverse effects of over the counter aspirin.Â
Ignoring context to demonize something is lazy at best. By the way, you don't have to smoke marijuana. That eliminates the majority of what you posted as risk.
@jowsuf, Side Effect Profile: Fatigue, paranoia, possible psychosis, memory problems, depersonalization, mood alterations, urinary retention, constipation, decreased motor coordination, lethargy, slurred speech, and dizziness. Impaired health including lung damage, behavioral changes, and reproductive, cardiovascular and immunological effects have been associated with regular marijuana use. Regular and chronic marijuana smokers may have many of the same respiratory problems that tobacco smokers have (daily cough and phlegm, symptoms of chronic bronchitis), as the amount of tar inhaled and the level of carbon monoxide absorbed by marijuana smokers is 3 to 5 times greater than among tobacco smokers.
Definitely not harmful in any way. Keep rationalizing.
@jowsuf  Really? Huh...
I'm not pro-pot or anti-pot. I am, however, anti-"pot isn't harmful", "it doesn't have any ill effects", etc. All a bunch of pot-head B.S.
http://www.nhtsa.gov/people/injury/research/job185drugs/cannabis.htm
@StringerJoe I'm not rationalizing anything. Marijuana isn't harmful despite what happened here.Â
Asserting that my opinion is biased because you think I smoke is lazy, a cop out, and shows you're ignorant about pot.
@jowsuf , Who's doing the rationalizing here?Â
By the way, how much do you smoke a day?
Like combining Pot with driving??
Welcome to the drug culture. Not so the Libertarian ideal.Â
@Citizen#3457899654 Libertarians would hold someone that infringed on the rights of others most accountable.
Libertarians would say that if can do your drugs without harming anyone else then... fine. This dope didn't do that. Therefore, he gets jail time and  civil penalties.
I took oxycontin last month for my back surgery and there was no way I would have been able to drive, yet they top out the story that he was over the limit for pot?! I'm real sorry for that kid. Shoulda never happened
Who exactly are you sorry for? Really?? Over semantics?? His THC level exceeded the Oxy. It is a no brainer.
@missyk Where did you read that his THC levels exceeded the Oxy? It's definitely not in this article. And they don't have a correlation of Oxy to THC... and you aren't supposed to drive at all after taking Oxy even if this driver happened to be the one it was prescribed to.Â
strange how being in a car and killing someone is and has been soo excusable i really just dont get it if anything it should be doubled cuz u control the what that car is doing that . we must be sooo retarded
that's a huge shoulder. Lots of space, almost to a crosswalk, a popular trail and the school. It doesn't matter whether pot was legal or illegal. He killed a kid under the influence. There is no difference between marijuana impairment, alcohol impairment or oxycodone impairment. There should be no special rules or favors for this guy simply because the word "marijuana" came up.
@chandler there actually IS a difference. pot is not debilitating.
@SwampThing So you're in favor of letting people who are high on mj drive?
@Swamp Thing. I agree with you, in part. Drunks are far predisposed to irrational and erratic behavior. I don't anyone who has been drinking, taking pills or smoking weed to be driving. Studies have shown, again and again, that smoking weed does have a debilitation effect on those who smoke - new smokers and "seasoned" smokers alike.
http://www.nhtsa.gov/people/injury/research/job185drugs/cannabis.htm
@jlynnhood that depends I suppose. I have no idea how you could measure the effects to establish a DUI sort of level - it has some severe psychological effects on some people, but they would be very unlikely to enjoy the effects and wouldn't smoke and drive.
as far as "seasoned" smokers? I fear them far less than any drunk or pill addled driver.