Trooper fatally shoots woman in traffic stop
Published 9:00 pm Thursday, August 9, 2001
Associated Press
GORST — A state trooper fatally shot a woman during an exchange of gunshots at a traffic stop Thursday night, a State Patrol spokesman said. The officer was slightly wounded.
The trooper, a nine-year veteran, stopped a white pickup for suspected drunken driving at 6:26 p.m. and arrested the driver, State Patrol Lt. Ken Smelcer said. The female passenger confronted the trooper and shots were fired, the lieutenant said.
The woman fell dead at the scene, at the interchange of Highway 3 and Highway 16 in this small community just south of Bremerton. The trooper was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with a gunshot wound to the right hand.
The 32-year-old trooper was in satisfactory condition, Harborview spokeswoman Susan Gregg-Hanson said Thursday night.
Neither the dead woman nor the trooper was immediately identified.
Additional details were not immediately available.
The Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office and the State Patrol were investigating.
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