City of Everett to settle 2013 Broadway car accident suit for $105K

Published 1:56 pm Thursday, April 30, 2015

EVERETT — The city of Everett will pay $105,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by a man injured in a fatal car accident in 2010.

Marco Ortiz, who was 18 at the time, suffered multiple broken bones in the crash. Sheena Blair, 24, and Martin “Tony” Ramirez, 19, both of Tacoma, were killed, and fellow passenger Luis Reyna, also 18 at the time, was injured.

The suit was filed in 2013 against the city and Camille Spink, who was found to have been drunk when she drove her vehicle the wrong way down a one-way street and hit Blair’s car. The accident took place in the 4300 block of Broadway, where the two-lane roadway splits into two one-lane roads and a bridge takes the northbound road over an I-5 onramp.

Spink is serving a seven-year prison sentence for vehicular homicide and assault.

The lawsuit against the city alleges that Broadway is dangerous and that the city is failing to protect the public from distracted or intoxicated drivers who miss the turn on that section of the roadway.

The location of the accident has been the scene of several accidents over the years, including another crash in 2012 that killed a Freedland man.

On Wednesday, the Everett City Council approved the settlement with Ortiz. Reyna and Blair’s estate still have an active suit against the city.