The Washington State Patrol is looking for witnesses to Wednesday morning’s fatal multiple car accident on I-5 in the southbound lanes of I-5 in Tukwila near SR-518.
The fatality was a 43-year old Seattleite who was driving a Toyota Land Cruiser without a seatbelt. A passenger in a Toyota Camry was treated for minor injuries at the scene, while others involved were not injured.
Most of southbound I-5 was closed during the morning rush hour while police and detectives investigated the scene.
If you saw the accident, you are urged to call 425-401-7719 as soon as possible.
A Burien woman pleaded guilty today of driving drunk the wrong way down I-5 before slamming into a pickup truck, killing an 18-year-old woman and badly injuring her boyfriend.
Cerrissa Christensen will likely face 6 1/2 years in prison when she is sentenced April 25 in King County Superior Court.
The 27-year-old woman pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide and vehicular assault for the Oct. 9 crash, which killed Bawny McQuistin, who was riding in the passenger seat as her boyfriend, Eric Hillstrom, 19, drove toward downtown Seattle.
Hillstrom suffered broken bones in his legs and back and was left with serious brain injuries.
Christensen had been drinking at a Seattle bar before the crash. Several of her friends told her she was too drunk to drive and offered to give her a ride, but she managed to sneak away and get behind the wheel, Deputy Prosecutor Amy Freedheim said.
She entered the freeway’s northbound lanes headed south. She was speeding — 100 mph at times — in the car pool lane when she saw a state trooper and slowed down, “not even comprehending that she was going the wrong way,” Freedheim said.
The trooper and others tried, unsuccessfully, to get her to stop.
Her blood-alcohol level was 0.25 percent — more than three times the legal limit — according to court documents.
Christensen would have faced roughly 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 years for the charges, but she had a previous drunken-driving conviction that added two years to her sentence range. Prosecutors and her lawyer agreed to the top end of that range.
She also has a previous drug charge and various driving tickets and convictions, including ones for reckless driving and hit-and-run.
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| Mar ’08 |
| 2 |
| 3:00 am |
We here at the B-Town Blog are as sick and tired of these ding-dang traffic construction nightmares as you are, so we’re passing along this critical, headache-avoidance advisory:
Avoid driving I-5 Southbound near Southcenter this weekend!
Crews will conduct a rolling slowdown on southbound I-5 near S. 178th Street at 3 a.m. this Sunday morning, March 2nd to install the replacement bridge girder.
S. 178th Street over I-5 has been narrowed back to one lane of alternating traffic using a smart signal that detects traffic back-ups and automatically adjusts signal timing to ease congestion.
S. 178th Street over I-5 will also be completely closed Saturday night from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. the following morning.
On Dec. 13, 2006 a truck struck the S. 178th street overpass. The impact damaged a girder underneath the structure. Bridge inspectors found the bridge safe for drivers but decided to restrict traffic to prevent more damage to the girder.
Crews must replace the girder to return traffic to normal on this highly traveled overpass between Tukwila and SeaTac.
Crews will replace the damaged girder under the S. 178th street overpass. The bridge deck will also be repaired.
Completing repairs will return the overpass to normal capacity for drivers traveling between SeaTac and Tukwila.
Replacing the girder will ensure that the overpass remains safe for drivers on S. 178th and on I-5 in the future.
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