Prosecutors will wait to receive blood test results before charging an Oak Harbor man accused of causing a crash that killed a young woman May 2, according to a deputy prosecutor.

Jeromy Ladwig, 35, appeared in Island County Superior Court Wednesday after being arrested on suspicion of vehicular homicide. A passenger in his vehicle, Keesha Harden, 18, died as a result of the crash.

Ladwig was wheeled into the courtroom strapped to a gurney-like contraption that allowed him to sit up. He had just come from the hospital; his arm was bandaged and he appeared to be in a lot of pain.

Judge Vickie Churchill noted that Ladwig was also slurring his words and having trouble speaking.

Based on a Washington state trooper’s report, Churchill said she found that probable cause exists to believe that Ladwig committed vehicular homicide.

Deputy Prosecutor Chris Anderson asked that Ladwig be held in jail on bail. He said Ladwig was on Department of Corrections community custody at the time of the crash.

Ladwig’s attorney, Clare Bogdanowicz, argued that he should be released to live with his father.

“He’s very injured,” she said. “I don’t think he’s going anywhere.”

Churchill inquired whether the jail can adequately handle the injured man, but nobody was able to answer. She also agreed that he seemed very injured and unlikely to flee from justice.

“I’m familiar with Mr. Ladwig,” she said, “and he doesn’t seem to be all there.”

Churchill decided to release Ladwig on his personal recognizance.

On Thursday, Anderson said he will wait to receive toxicology results from the state crime lab before making a decision about which “prong” of the vehicular homicide statute to charge Ludwig.

The most serious prong is for causing the fatal crash while driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Investigators had probable cause to believe Ladwig may have been under the influence of drugs at the time of the crash, according to court records.

Under the other prongs, Ladwig could be accused of driving in a reckless manner or with disregard for the safety of others.

A trooper with the Washington State Patrol investigated the accident. According to the report, Ladwig, Harden and Randon Koepke, 32, were in Ladwig’s 2001 Ford Mustang in the parking lot of Joseph Whidbey Park on North Whidbey at about 4:15 a.m.

Ladwig accelerated quickly in the parking lot, causing the Mustang to fishtail, and went through a stop sign at the park’s exit without stopping.

He went onto West Beach Road at a high rate of speed, according to the trooper’s report.

The Mustang was struck by an eastbound 2004 Dodge Dakota pickup driven by Nathan Dee, 26, of Oak Harbor.

Harden, the front seat passenger, suffered a broken hip as well as head and internal injuries. She died during surgery at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, the report states.

Dee was transported to Whidbey General Hospital by a family member; he was treated and released. Koepke was treated for knee and foot injuries and released from the hospital.

Ladwig suffered a broken clavicle, multiple broken ribs and a head injury, the trooper wrote.

A deputy at the scene said in his report he found a broken glass pipe and a plastic bag of suspected methamphetamine in a backpack belonging to Koepke.

Ladwig allegedly told a trooper that he took some “hydrocoxin” prior to the crash, the report said.

Ladwig has a criminal history of drug-related charges, according to the prosecutor’s office.

Bogdanowicz, however, noted that he doesn’t have any felony charges since 2012.