Olympia man facing charges in fatal crash on JBLM land

Bail was set at $75,000 Monday for an Olympia driver accused of causing a fatal crash on Joint Base Lewis-McChord property Saturday night.

Devin James Simmons, 24, appeared in Thurston County Superior Court on one count of vehicular homicide and one count of vehicular assault. Arraignment was set for July 12.

Court documents give the following account:

About 7 p.m. Saturday, Thurston County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a collision near Rainier Road and Spurgeon Creek Road. A red Jeep Cherokee with four people in it had rolled over on a dirt road and caught fire.

The crash killed 22-year-old Shawn Herndon of Olympia. An official cause of death is still pending, according to the Thurston County coroner.

A female passenger suffered a broken wrist and was transported to Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia. A male passenger had jumped out of the vehicle when he realized it was going to flip and was not injured.

Deputies reported that Simmons, who had been driving the Jeep, was distraught at the scene and kept saying “I just killed my friend.” Simmons also told deputies that some of his passengers had been “hanging outside the windows while I was driving.”

Deputies reported smelling alcohol on Simmons and applied for a search warrant to test his blood. Simmons denied being drunk, but said he had smoked marijuana earlier Saturday. Blood test results were unavailable Monday.

Charges already were pending against Simmons for fourth-degree assault, and he is on probation for another fourth-degree assault charge in Olympia Municipal Court, according to court documents.

This story was originally published June 27, 2016 at 4:41 PM with the headline "Olympia man facing charges in fatal crash on JBLM land."