A Federal Way man is charged with multiple crimes, including vehicular homicide and vehicular assault, following a Jan. 14 crash in the 32600 block of Pacific Highway South that killed a 19-year-old man.
On Jan. 14, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged Daniel Ashton Upyr, 18, with vehicular homicide, two counts of vehicular assault, reckless driving, and third-degree driving while license suspended/revoked. These charges stem from an incident where Upyr was allegedly driving northbound on the wrong side of Pacific Highway South, when he crashed into a southbound driver.
The crash resulted in the death of 19-year-old Veaceslav Suhatchi. The crash also injured another passenger in Upyr’s vehicle and injured the driver he collided with, a 63-year-old woman. Upyr’s living passenger suffered internal bleeding, a chipped tooth and difficulty breathing from the seatbelt. The woman he allegedly crashed into suffered multiple tears on her spleen and broken ribs, and had part of her small intestine removed.
According to a GoFundMe seeking to raise donations for Suhatchi’s funeral, he was deeply loved, and he will always be remembered and missed.
According to court documents, on Jan. 20, Upyr pleaded not guilty to the crimes he was charged with, and his bail was set at $100,000. According to the King County Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention jail lookup portal, Upyr remains in jail at the Maleng Regional Justice Center.
Details of the case
According to charging documents, officers received an initial call at 9:30 p.m. Jan. 10, regarding a crash in the 32600 block of Pacific Highway South involving a BMW 330E and a Toyota Rav4. Witnesses on scene were saying that one of the people inside the BMW was possibly deceased.
Documents state that when officers arrived on scene, inside the BMW, Suhatchi was deceased, and the driver of the Toyota was still in her vehicle. Across the street were Upyr and another passenger from the BMW.
When asked who was driving, Upyr and the passenger gave conflicting statements, each claiming the other had driven. However, documents state that witnesses saw Upyr in the driver’s seat, and that Upyr had a mark on his neck indicating he was the driver.
When officers arrived, they saw multiple open cans of High Noon alcoholic seltzer drinks. Documents state that when officers spoke to Upyr, he smelled of alcohol and stumbled slightly when walking.
Documents state that what they believe occurred is that the Toyota was driving southbound on Pacific Highway South in the left-most lane, and Upyr was driving northbound on the wrong side of the road toward the Toyota.
“As the BMW is driving the wrong way of traffic, it must have swerved seeing the headlights of oncoming traffic. Due to the roadway being wet, the vehicle loses traction and slides. The BMW turned sideways on the road,” documents state. “The Toyota and the BMW collided, creating a T-bone collision. The force of the impact is strong enough to cause the BMW to do a 360 spin.”
Documents state that when the BMW swerved, the Toyota T-boned it on its left side, where Suhatchi was seated.
Documents state that about two hours after the crash, Upyr was interviewed, and he said that he was not driving, and he said he did not remember what happened, but he also made small statements about driving the vehicle. The surviving passenger said in an interview a couple of days after the crash that Upyr had been the only one driving that day, and that before the incident, he drove recklessly, citing that at one point he did a 360 in the BMW when turning out onto a street.
