Yelm teen passenger killed, two others injured in SR 510 collision Tuesday night
A 16-year-old Yelm girl was killed when an SUV crashed on State Route 510 in Thurston County late Tuesday evening.
Washington State Patrol troopers responded to the crash at about 9:55 p.m. near 15th Avenue Southeast. They found a 2009 Nissan Murano that had veered off the eastbound lane of the highway into an embankment, said Trooper Robert Reyer.
The vehicle hit a tree and a telephone pole before coming to rest by the side of the road, Reyer said. The 16-year-old who died at the scene sat in the front right passenger seat, he added.
The driver, a 17-year-old Yelm girl, and another passenger, an 18-year-old Yelm woman, were injured in the collision and transported to Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia for treatment, Reyer said.
Troopers don’t believe the driver was impaired, but they suspect she may have somehow been distracted. If that proves to be the cause of the collision, Reyer said the driver could face a vehicular homicide charge.
“This is a very tragic incident that shows how our brain can sometimes not perform two tasks at the same time,” Reyer said. “It takes a split second for somebody to not be 100% there, veer off the road and a young life can be ended.”
No other vehicles or people were involved in the collision, he said.
Troopers and the state Department of Transportation closed the eastbound lane of State Route 510 near the scene for nearly five hours. But DOT officials alternated traffic during that time, Reyer said.
This story was originally published April 20, 2022 at 10:38 AM.
