Law enforcement and emergency responders block the southbound lanes on I-5 near Marysville after a wrong-way driver caused a fatal crash Sunday. (Marysville Police Department)

Law enforcement and emergency responders block the southbound lanes on I-5 near Marysville after a wrong-way driver caused a fatal crash Sunday. (Marysville Police Department)

Wrong-way driver causes fatal crash on I-5 near Arlington

A Darrington man, 56, was arrested for investigation of vehicular homicide and DUI.

ARLINGTON — A driver going the wrong way on I-5 in Marysville caused a death in a multi-vehicle crash Sunday afternoon near Smokey Point, the Washington State Patrol said.

A 56-year-old Tulalip man, driving a 1991 Ford Explorer, reportedly got on the freeway at the 116th Street on-ramp in Marysville, the patrol said. Heading north in the southbound lanes of I-5, his vehicle collided head-on with a 1997 Toyota Corolla driven by a 30-year-old woman from Albany, Oregon.

The impact, about a mile south of Arlington at about 4 p.m., caused the Explorer to roll and land on a cable barrier, the State Patrol said.

One of the Corolla’s passengers, 28-year-old Miriam Robinson of Albany, Oregon, died. The driver of that car and a juvenile passenger of unknown age were taken to Providence Regional Medical Center Everett.

The State Patrol arrested the driver of the Explorer for investigation of vehicular homicide and driving under the influence.

Three other vehicles were hit by debris from the collision, the State Patrol said, but no one else was injured.

All southbound lanes south of Highway 530 were blocked due to the crash. Backups stretched five miles on I-5 and on Highway 9, as traffic was rerouted away from the closed freeway.

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