Pot may have been factor in I-5 crash

A 31-year-old Rochester man was arrested on suspicion of vehicular assault and reckless endangerment on Tuesday after he allegedly smoked marijuana and crashed his car on Interstate 5, according to the Washington State Patrol.

The suspect had been driving north on I-5, about nine miles south of Tumwater, at about 1:40 p.m., with his mother and a 2-year-old child in the car. His mother had been sitting in the front passenger seat and wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. The child was sitting in a carseat in the back, said Trooper Guy Gill.

The suspect allegedly lost control of the vehicle, crossed all lanes of I-5 and drove onto a grass embankment on the right side of the road. The car rolled over, and the suspect’s mother was ejected from the car. She sustained a broken right arm and lacerations on her head. The child was uninjured, Gill said.

The suspect allegedly told detectives that he had smoked marijuana three times that day, with the last time being about 30 minutes before he started driving. The suspect was booked into the Thurston County Jail after he was released from Providence St. Peter Hospital.

He was later transported to Harborview Medical Center for treatment for complications related to the crash.

The child was released to relatives, Gill said.

The Olympian doesn’t release the names of suspects until they have appeared in court.

This story was originally published November 18, 2015 at 1:33 PM with the headline "Pot may have been factor in I-5 crash."