Charges likely after crash kills two near Mattawa

MATTAWA (AP) — The driver of a pea harvester may face traffic charges for a crash with a pickup truck that left two people dead and four people hospitalized, authorities said.

The crash occurred Sunday night shortly after the 10-foot-high harvester lumbered onto Washington 243 about a mile north of town, Washington State Patrol investigators said.

There were no indications that alcohol or other drugs were involved, but the heavy equipment driver, Alejandro Barajas, 23, of Quincy, will likely face traffic charges, trooper Richard A. Magnussen said.

The dead were identified as J. Melquiades Rosas-Rodriguez, 39, driver of a 1990 Chevrolet pickup, and Jose Rosas, 4. Four others from the pickup who remained hospitalized Monday in Seattle, Spokane, Yakima and Kennewick were identified as Maria Madrigal, 37, Rosalind Rosas, 18, and Marcela Rosas, 16, and Jamile Avila-Rosas, 6 months.

Everyone in the pickup was from Mattawa and wore seat belts except for the little boy who died, Magnussen said. Language difficulties and transport of the survivors to different hospitals made it difficult to determine how they were related, he added.