STANWOOD – Two drivers were killed on northbound I-5 Thursday afternoon when an elderly man driving the wrong way in the fast lane crashed into an oncoming car.
A witness driving on the freeway when the accident happened about 1 p.m. told the Washington State Patrol that he flashed his lights at the 88-year-old driver as he passed on the left in a 1995 Ford Contour just north of the 300th Street NW exit.
The elderly man kept going south, and the witness saw the collision in his rearview mirror, trooper K.A. Leary said.
The northbound driver in the collision was in a 1993 Suzuki Swift.
The elderly man was identified as Walter Van Heukelem of Everett. The Suzuki driver was identified as Jeremiah D. Watkins, 27, of Anacortes.
It was barely raining when the accident happened, but snow was sticking to the ground when tow trucks started dragging away the two crunched cars about 2 p.m. Drivers were detoured onto the 300th Street NW exit and back onto the freeway from the onramp until 4:10 p.m.
Investigators don’t know why the elderly man was driving in the wrong direction. Troopers couldn’t find any tire tracks to indicate he had crossed over the median from the southbound lanes. He might have entered the highway from an offramp, but the closest offramp is 21/2 miles north at Starbird Road.
Troopers said there were no signs of alcohol, and it doesn’t appear that weather contributed to the crash.
“Without a report of where the guy was first seen, it’s hard to tell,” Leary said.
Reporter Scott Pesznecker: 425-339-3436 or spesznecker@heraldnet.com.
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