Alleged speeding driver accused of killing 48-year-old woman in 2023 Kennewick crash

A 26-year-old man is accused speeding on Steptoe Street when he T-boned a Honda Civic, killing a mother and hurting her daughter.

Investigators believe Matthew J. Christensen was going about 70 mph on the busy Kennewick street in a Dodge Journey before slamming into the passenger side of Honda Civic on Sept. 19, 2023, court documents said.

The crash killed Aurelia Medero Flores, 48, and injured her daughter, court documents said.

Christensen pleaded innocent this week to charges of vehicular homicide and vehicular assault for the crash. He is out of jail on his own recognizance awaiting his trial. It’s unclear why a charging decision took more than a year.

Kennewick police investigators found Christensen was speeding south in the SUV in the 2100 block of North Steptoe Street about 5:25 p.m., court documents

At the same time, Medero Flores’ daughter was turning left into a driveway in front to the SUV, court documents said.

The Dodge Journey slammed into the passenger side of the Honda, throwing the car up onto the side of the road and into a metal light pole, police said. The crash left the car and the pole “significantly” damaged, court documents said.

Medero Flores was rushed to Kadlec Regional Medical Center, where she died four days later.

A data recorder in the Journey found it was going between 70 and 74 mph in the 40 mph zone.

If he had been going the speed limit, there would have been more than 150 feet between the two vehicles. Even at 10 mph over the limit there would have been about 100 feet, court documents said.