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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Teen drivers in fatal wreck had been drinking

Two teenagers had been drinking when they crashed their cars last winter, killing a 19-year-old Spokane woman. Brooke A. Reese’s blood-alcohol level was 0.06 and Taylor D. Marean’s was 0.12 after the Feb. 14 crash on Hatch Road near 54th Avenue, according to documents filed this week in Spokane County Superior Court. Jacoby N. Bryant was killed in the crash. Vehicular homicide charges were filed Wednesday against Reese and Marean, but arraignments have not been scheduled. Detectives found meth in Reese’s purse, but she has not been charged with drug possession. Court documents indicate only alcohol was detected in her system. The sheriff’s detective who investigated the crash said Reese and Marean are likely to be in court in mid-June after school is out. Marean is a student at the University of Washington. Investigators believe he and Reese were racing when their cars collided on southbound Hatch Road near 54th Avenue early Feb.14. Bryant was in the passenger seat of Reese’s 1999 Pontiac Grand Am, which struck a tree after colliding with Marean’s 2005 BMW about 2:24 a.m., according to the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office. At least one person witnessed the crash, according to the newly filed documents. Ralph Reyes-Lao was driving northbound on Hatch with Karra Skinfill when a white car being tailgated by a black car sped past them. Reyes-Lao knew they wouldn’t make the curve at 57th and looked in his rear-view mirror as the cars collided. Detectives believe Marean’s BMW was going 51 mph when it struck Reese’s Pontiac. The speed limit on Hatch is 30 mph. Reese later reportedly admitted to drinking four shots of vodka at a party near 25th and Grand before the deadly crash. She cried at the hospital and told detectives “she was responsible for her friend’s death and had to live with it the rest of her life,” according to court documents.