By David Rasbach / The Bellingham Herald
BELLINGHAM — Whatcom County Superior Court documents revealed the identity of one of two men who died in a pair of fatal crashes Tuesday night on Bellingham streets.
Addison J. Parker, 28, died when the silver Dodge Charger he was a passenger in left the road and hit a tree Sept. 28 near the intersection of Woburn, Iowa and Yew streets, according to court documents released Friday, Oct. 1. LexisNexis records show Parker was from Bothell.
As a result of the crash that killed Parker, Bellingham Police booked Oscar Ali Bengoa-Alas, 24, of Bellingham, into Whatcom County Jail Wednesday on suspicion of vehicular homicide, DUI and driving with a suspended license. Jail records show Bengoa-Alas is being held in lieu of $50,000 bail.
Officers were called to the scene of the crash at 8:46 p.m. Tuesday and found the Charger on its side after having collided with a tree, just past the intersection, a police release Wednesday evening, Sept. 29, stated.
Witnesses reported seeing two cars racing east on Iowa and through the intersection at Woburn at high speeds, according to the release. One of the cars cleared the intersection onto Yew, but the Charger lost control and crashed into the tree.
Police found Bengoa-Alas at the scene walking and bleeding from his face with injuries consistent with the bridge of his nose hitting the steering wheel, according to the release.
Witnesses told police they saw Bengoa-Alas being helped from the car by people who were in the other car involved in the race, according to court documents.
Officers also found Parker still in the car’s passenger seat being treated for his critical injuries by medics, the release states, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. Parker was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash, according to court documents.
“The investigation revealed Bengoa-Alas was exhibiting signs of intoxication and officers developed further probable cause to charge him with vehicular homicide,” the release stated. “Bengoa-Alas was driving his car in a reckless manner after having consumed intoxicating liquor, which caused a crash and fatally injured the passenger in his car.”
Bengoa-Alas was taken to St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham for treatment of his injuries, according to the release, before he was booked into jail Wednesday.
A 54-year-old male bicyclist, whose name has not been released, died in a separate crash approximately one hour earlier on the Mount Baker Highway, the release stated. The bicyclist was wearing dark clothing in a dark area of the highway, according to the release, and “no criminality, negligence or recklessness” was found on the part of the driver in that fatal crash.
There have been 12 deaths on Whatcom County roads in 10 fatal crashes so far this year, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation’s Crash Data Portal, after there were eight fatal crashes resulting in eight deaths in 2020.
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