Stockton Booked After Fatal Yakima Crash

Susan Edler is dead, and her husband was in intensive care. A judge can weigh what a defendant said after a crash when setting bail. Who crossed the center line is what a trial would have to decide. This booking is on suspicion.

Trevor Allen Stockton, 26, of Yakima was booked Sunday on suspicion of vehicular homicide and vehicular assault while under the influence. The crash killed Susan Edler, 67, and injured her husband, Dave Edler, 70. Dave Edler played third base for the Seattle Mariners from 1980 to 1983 and was Yakima's mayor from 2006 to 2010.

Yakima police were called about 4:30 p.m. Sunday to the 7700 block of Coolidge Road, near South 76th Avenue. Officers found a Dodge Ram pickup and a Ford Bronco Sport in a ditch. The pickup had ridden up onto the Bronco. The Edlers were trapped inside. Susan Edler was pronounced dead at a Yakima hospital. Dave Edler, who was driving, had two broken arms and facial injuries and was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. On Tuesday he was still in the intensive care unit in critical condition.

Police say Stockton told a witness the other vehicle was in his lane. Dave Edler told police the truck came into his lane. Officers said the damage was concentrated on the Bronco's passenger side. A drug-recognition officer wrote that he could smell alcohol on Stockton from about five feet away, and that Stockton had watery eyes and slurred speech. Stockton refused field sobriety tests. Police obtained a search warrant for his blood. No result has been reported.

A cousin told police she saw him drinking at breakfast. Video and a tab from the West Valley Bar & Grill showed that he and a girlfriend arrived at 12:45 p.m., that nine drinks were bought for the two of them, and that he left at 4:24 p.m., about six minutes before the crash.

At Monday's hearing, Deputy Prosecutor Jaye Sleeman asked for bail of at least $500,000. Sleeman told the judge that Stockton chuckled when he was told the Edlers were seriously hurt, and that when he was told the passenger had been killed he answered, "OK." Yakima County Superior Court Judge Shane Silverthorn set bail at $75,000 and cited that response. He ordered an ignition interlock on any vehicle Stockton drives, a 24-hour sobriety check, and no contact with Dave Edler. Stockton's lawyer, Konrad Beattie, said the only conviction on his record is a 2021 gross-misdemeanor eluding case in Oregon. Stockton posted the $75,000 and was released at 5:52 p.m. Monday.

All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.