UPDATE: Wine tasting room manager died in Richland chain-reaction crash
A 56-year-old Richland man who died Tuesday after crashing during the evening commute worked as a winery manager for years. He also was a candidate for several local offices in recent years.
Larry D. Stanley Jr. was driving east on Interstate 182 in a Ford C-Max hybrid toward Pasco about 6 p.m. when traffic slowed in front of him near the Queensgate interchange, the Washington State Patrol said.
He slammed into the rear of a Chevy Silverado, which then hit another Silverado pickup, the state patrol said. Stanley, who was wearing a seat belt, died at the scene.
The driver of the first truck, Alfredo C. Huerta, 50, of Pasco, was taken to Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland. His condition was not immediately available Wednesday.
The third driver, Robert J. Brown, 47, of Richland, was treated at the scene.
Investigators are still trying to determine what caused Stanley to hit the truck, but they initially ruled out alcohol or drugs being a factor.
The deadly crash is the second in two days that involved a rear-end collision. Both happened during day-light hours.
On Monday afternoon, Grant A. Kerr, 32, died on Interstate 82 south of Kennewick when his car hit the back of a semi-trailer.
A varied career
Stanley, a Hanford High graduate, had deep roots in the Tri-Cities, and a career that started in churches in Richland and California. He later became the director of a Colorado program that trained people to teach in East Asia before he returned to the Tri-Cities, a previous Tri-City Herald article said.
His career in wine began in 2012 when he started working at Hamilton Cellars on Red Mountain. He worked his way up the ladder until he became the general manager for the business in 2022, according to his LinkedIn profile.
He stayed until the business shut its doors earlier this year. Most recently, he was helping the newly formed Desert Moon Winery in Prosser open its doors, according to his LinkedIn profile.
He shared that he enjoyed the journey of his life, and learning.
Stanley ran for public office several times in recent years. His first attempt came in 2020 when he ran against then state Rep. Matt Boehnke as a third-party candidate, who wanted to heal the fractious divide in American politics.
“Both major parties only focus on making the other side lose so that we all end up losing in the end,” he said in his statement in the Washington State Voter’s Pamphlet.
Boehnke won the election by a margin of 79% to 21%.
He made another run for office in 2021, this time challenging Richland City Council incumbent Sandra Kent. He wanted to have a limited term in office and to make sure the city treated everyone equally, no matter their finances, origin, past, age, race or culture, he wrote in his candidate statement.
The races for city council are nonpartisan. Kent won the election with 73% of the vote.
He ran a third time in 2022 for the District 8 State Representative seat, but was eliminated in the primary. Rep. April Connors would go on to win the general election.
This story was originally published October 22, 2025 at 11:59 AM with the headline "UPDATE: Wine tasting room manager died in Richland chain-reaction crash."