Wrong-way driver causes fatal crash on I-5 near Arlington
Published 4:50 pm Sunday, July 1, 2018
ARLINGTON — A driver going the wrong way on I-5 in Marysville caused a death in a multi-vehicle crash Sunday afternoon near Smokey Point, the Washington State Patrol said.
A 56-year-old Tulalip man, driving a 1991 Ford Explorer, reportedly got on the freeway at the 116th Street on-ramp in Marysville, the patrol said. Heading north in the southbound lanes of I-5, his vehicle collided head-on with a 1997 Toyota Corolla driven by a 30-year-old woman from Albany, Oregon.
The impact, about a mile south of Arlington at about 4 p.m., caused the Explorer to roll and land on a cable barrier, the State Patrol said.
One of the Corolla’s passengers, 28-year-old Miriam Robinson of Albany, Oregon, died. The driver of that car and a juvenile passenger of unknown age were taken to Providence Regional Medical Center Everett.
The State Patrol arrested the driver of the Explorer for investigation of vehicular homicide and driving under the influence.
Three other vehicles were hit by debris from the collision, the State Patrol said, but no one else was injured.
All southbound lanes south of Highway 530 were blocked due to the crash. Backups stretched five miles on I-5 and on Highway 9, as traffic was rerouted away from the closed freeway.
All lanes of southbound I-5 are blocked south of SR 530 for a crash and emergency response. Consider delaying your trip or use SR 530 or SR 534 to SR 9 as an alternate route. Expect heavy congestion in the area. Northbound lanes open, but congestion past crash site. pic.twitter.com/MFgAc9qiTU
— WSDOT Traffic (@wsdot_traffic) July 1, 2018
