Deputies arrest man suspected of hitting 12-year-old girls with truck in Midland
A 32-year-old man was arrested Wednesday morning who Pierce County deputies suspect was the driver who hit two 12-year-old girls with a stolen truck in Midland, killing one and badly injuring the other.
The man is accused in the death of Immaculee Goldade, who was walking with a friend on the side of the road the morning of Jan. 15 on 104th Street East near 24th Avenue East, about a block from Midland Elementary School. The two girls were struck by a person driving a white, flatbed pickup truck.
A SWAT team from Pierce County Sheriff’s Department made the arrest at about 5:43 a.m. on the outskirts of Tacoma near Parkland, Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Sgt. Daren Moss said. The man was arrested for investigation of vehicular homicide and vehicular assault.
“We’re hoping that this gives some closure to the family,” Moss said. “I know that for us, in the sheriff’s department, it’s going to provide us with a lot of closure too. We hate to see stuff like this and we’re glad that we were able to do the work needed to get this guy in custody.”
Jail records show the man was also booked on suspicion of second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, second-degree burglary, two counts of duty in case of death at a vehicle accident and two counts of possession of stolen property.
The arrest came following weeks of searching for a man tied to the truck that struck the girls. Deputies found the pickup truck abandoned hours after the incident. Deputies just needed to identify and find the driver.
Two days later, law enforcement had a lead. Surveillance video showed a man getting out of the same truck at a gas station west of Puyallup wearing a high-visibility vest and buying snacks with cash.
A bulletin was issued for the man, and the search was on. Meanwhile, Goldade’s family were looking for answers and pleading for the driver to turn himself in, Kiro 7 reported. The 12-year-old girl was one of eight children. At a candlelight vigil at Midland Elementary School on Jan. 17, community members gathered to grieve the young girl’s death.
Moss said deputies worked long hours to try to track down the driver. He said a traffic investigator stayed out late the day of the incident trying to find video of the vehicle and then continued to search for footage on his day off Sunday and on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
The man suspected of hitting the girls was arrested without incident, Moss said. Other people were in the residence where he was arrested, and video of the scene showed the SWAT team calling out for those people to leave so they could search the home.
