A daughter of a couple killed in a horrific I-5 collision has filed a lawsuit blaming her parents’ deaths on the state for failing to install a barrier that would prevent across-the-median collisions on a dangerous stretch of the freeway.
Fawn Ringen and her husband, Tyler, this week filed a lawsuit seeking damages from the state. Also named in the suit is the driver whose truck slammed into the family.
Darrell and Sandra Knapp of Marysville, and their 6-year-old adopted son, Noah, perished in the May 30, 2005, collision in Marysville.
Their northbound car was struck by the oncoming pickup truck that was towing a trailer in the southbound side of the freeway. The truck plowed through cable barriers, crossed the median and struck the Knapp’s car and others.
Ringen learned of her parents’ deaths when she happened to drive by the accident scene and recognized their crumpled car, according to court papers.
The same lawsuit is seeking damages for injuries suffered by two others involved in the crash. Mark and Eldon Leuning of Bothell were hurt in another car during the crash and now also are seeking unspecified damages.
The driver of the pickup truck was charged with misdemeanor second-degree negligent driving and paid a $538 fine in Snohomish County District Court’s Cascade Division. A State Patrol investigation revealed that he had been driving too fast while pulling a 37-foot trailer in the left freeway lane.
Since 2000, eight people have died in across-the-median crashes along a stretch of I-5 near Marysville, an area that has protective cable barriers.
The cable barriers at this location have come under fire, and attempts have been made to reduce the potential of cross-over accidents.
In June 2005, the state reduced the speed limit from 70 to 60 mph along that stretch. A second row of cables was added later. The state also hired an independent expert to study what to do about the deadly stretch of highway.
In a 2007 report, the consultant recommended replacing the cable barriers along this stretch of highway with concrete barriers. Gov. Chris Gregoire has put nearly $27 million in her proposed budget for the concrete work, and the issue is now before the Legislature.
State Department of Transportation officials Friday declined comment about the lawsuit.
“We are working to implement the recommendations from the report and are coordinating with the governor’s office and giving her the information she needs,” Transportation spokeswoman Meghan Soptich said.
The lawsuit describes how Fawn Ringen, 23, was on her way to work the day of the crash and was on a road parallel to I-5. She saw the wreckage, including her father’s car, and knew three family members had been in it, the complaint said.
Ringen is the Knapps’ only biological child, said her attorney, Grant Weed of Snohomish. She has two children of her own and is caring for three others adopted by her parents, Weed said.
Ringen filed a claim with the state last spring seeking $9 million in damages. The lawsuit was filed after the state took no action on the claim.
In 2006, the state paid $2 million to the family of a Bothell teenager who was killed in a 2004 cross-over crash in that same stretch of I-5.
“Fawn has talked to the press about not understanding the number of cross-over accidents and why something wasn’t done sooner, and why it took several fatal accidents before the state hired their own, independent expert to examine the situation,” Weed said.
Besides adopting four children, over the years, the Knapps had been foster parents to dozens of children, Weed said.
“The collision was one of the most tragic accidents a family could imagine,” he added.
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or jhaley@heraldnet.com.
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