2 of 3 killed in I-5 hit-and-run identified. Their SUV flipped when struck in suspected DUI

Officials have identified two of the people killed on Interstate 5 in Lakewood in a hit-and-run rollover crash as Jaime Pelayo Pelayo and Sherry Rodriguez.

Pelayo Pelayo, 30, and Rodriguez, 44, were both from Kelso.

The Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office has not identified the 51-year-old Longview man who also died in the collision.

All three were riding in a 1999 Honda CRV when another vehicle swerved across all southbound lanes and struck them about 2:15 a.m. Thursday.

The impact pushed the Honda into the jersey barrier near New York Avenue SW and caused it to hit the overpass pillars before rolling and landing upside down. The engine block was thrown into the northbound lanes, where a truck struck it.

Pelayo Pelayo, Rodriguez and the Longview man were pronounced dead at the scene.

Troopers said the person who caused the crash was a 23-year-old man in a Nissan Maxima who fled after hitting Pelayo Pelayo’s car.

An off-duty Seattle dispatcher who witnessed the collision was able to follow the driver and direct police to where he’d stopped three miles away.

The man was arrested on suspicion of three counts of vehicular homicide, DUI, felony hit-and-run, possession of marijuana with the intent to deliver and possession of a stolen firearm.

He is expected to appear in court Friday afternoon.

This story was originally published March 9, 2018 at 7:29 AM with the headline "2 of 3 killed in I-5 hit-and-run identified. Their SUV flipped when struck in suspected DUI."