Crash seriously injures driver in east Thurston County, State Patrol says
A two-vehicle collision seriously injured a driver in east Thurston County Thursday morning.
The collision occurred at around 5:15 a.m. at milepost 12 of state Route 510, also known as Yelm Highway Southeast, according to a press memo from the Washington State Patrol.
A 44-year-old Yelm woman travelling west in a GMC Terrain sports utility vehicle allegedly struck a Mazda sedan as she attempted to pass it. The Mazda left the roadway to the right and crashed into a tree stump, per the memo. The Yelm woman stopped on the right shoulder.
The State Patrol identified the Mazda driver as a 24-year-old man from Graham, Pennsylvania. In an X post, Trooper Kameron Watts said the man suffered serious injuries.
A passerby hailed a trooper who was in the area responding to a separate collision, Watts said. Both drivers were heading to work at the time of the collision, he added.
First responders transported the injured man to Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia, according to the memo. The collision and subsequent crash reportedly totaled the Mazda.
The GMC driver has been booked into the Thurston County jail on suspicion of vehicular assault and driving under the influence, per the jail roster.
The cause of the collision is under investigation, the memo says, but troopers suspect it involved drugs or alcohol.
