MARYSVILLE — Investigators are still not sure why an Oak Harbor man ended up driving the wrong way on I-5 Wednesday night.
Laurence A. Clayton, 43, was killed when his northbound station wagon collided head-on with a semi-truck traveling southbound on I-5 at about 11:30 p.m.
The semi spun the Mercury Tracer around just north of 116th Street NE. Two other cars hit the station wagon, and a sport utility vehicle struck one of those cars.
Clayton died at the scene. Two women, 18 and 37, were treated for injuries at Providence Everett Medical Center and released, according to hospital spokeswoman Cheri Russum.
The other two drivers were not injured, State Patrol trooper Lance Ramsay said.
It was not clear where Clayton entered the freeway, Ramsay said. Witness reports indicate that he got on at 88th Street NE — more than two miles south of the crash site, the trooper said.
Just south of the Tulalip Casino on 88th Street NE is an intersection with freeway onramps and offramps. The southbound offramp provides direct access to the freeway for a northbound vehicle.
Troopers also aren’t sure why Clayton was going in the wrong direction. There were no reports that he was driving erratically before the accident, and there was no smell of alcohol in the car, Ramsay said.
"At this point, we don’t know," he said.
Clayton was not supposed to be behind the wheel. His license had been suspended for failing to pay a traffic ticket, Ramsay said. A court search also revealed that Clayton pleaded guilty to drunken driving in December 2002 in Skagit County.
The Snohomish County medical examiner will determine if the man had alcohol or drugs in his body at the time of the crash. Those tests will take up to a month, Ramsay said.
All three southbound lanes of the freeway were shut down for about five hours while troopers investigated the crash.
Ramsay said troopers frequently receive calls about people driving in the wrong direction. Most drivers quickly realize their mistake and turn around, he said.
Ramsay said it is important for people who report such incidents to provide a specific location. Wednesday night, troopers were searching in south Everett because they weren’t told the crash was near Marysville.
Reporter Diana Hefley:
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