By Matt Wendland

25-year-old North Highline resident, Taylor Porter, was reportedly high on meth when he attempted to flee from a King County Sheriff’s deputy while driving a stolen motorcycle into oncoming traffic which killed his girlfriend who had been a passenger, according to King County prosecutors.

The crash took place on November 2, just three weeks after Porter had been released from jail after he violated release conditions on a felony drug charge. The 2008 Yamaha R6 motorcycle Porter was driving had been reported as stolen from an apartment complex in Kent on October 28th. Additionally, Porter had a warrant out for his arrest.

On the evening of the collision, Porter was driving the motorcycle with a suspended license and his girlfriend, 26-year-old Burien resident, Crissa White, as a passenger behind him. Just before 8:30 p.m., a King County Sheriff’s deputy passed Porter and White as he drove north on Occidental Avenue. He reported that he noticed that the motorcycle sped up as it passed the officer which prompted him to make a U-turn. Initially, the officer lost sight of the bike but as he arrived to the intersection of South 136th Street and 1st Avenue South, he spotted the two driving south in the northbound lanes of 1st Avenue before crashing. As the deputy pulled up to the scene of the crash, he saw Porter get up and run. After a chase that lasted about 80 yards on foot, the officer was able to capture him. 

Porter is reported to have later admitted to investigating officers that he had been using methamphetamine and had lost control of the bike near the intersection of 1st Avenue South and 143rd Street. The bike toppled and the couple slid nearly 300 feet into oncoming traffic. Porter, who only had minor injuries,  was treated at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle where his blood was drawn for toxicology testing.

Crissa White, who had been wearing a helmet, slid directly into the front of an oncoming vehicle and died on the scene. 

Porter is now being held without bail at the Washington State Department of Corrections for previous drug charges. He has now been charged with vehicular homicide, felony hit and run, reckless driving and second-degree taking of a motor vehicle without permission. 

26-year-old Crissa White grew up in Auburn and attended Thomas Jefferson High School in Federal Way before graduating in 2007 and taking business classes at Pacific Lutheran University. White moved to Burien after leaving PLU in 2011 and had been working at an auto body repair shop just blocks from where the accident took place. She was described by coworkers as being a beautiful person with a bright personality.