3 killed in crash near Ritzville
A crash early Thursday morning near Ritzville claimed the lives of three people from the Spokane area after the driver lost control of the vehicle and it struck a pole on I-90.
RITZVILLE - Three people from the Spokane area were killed in a car crash early Thursday morning after striking a bridge support on Interstate 90 about nine miles east of Ritzville.
Authorities said a car crashed just before 5 a.m. at the Tokio Road overpass along I-90 East. The driver, identified as Gabriel L. Johnson, 20, of Spokane Valley, reportedly drove off the road to the left, veered back into the left lane and then over corrected off the road to the left again. The vehicle, a 2003 Buick Century, went over a guardrail before striking a bridge support pole and eventually rolling onto its side, according to the State Patrol.
Johnson and two passengers in the vehicle, Mary C. Werts, 21, and Trevor L. Hallman-Person, 19, both of Spokane, were pronounced dead at the scene. Werts was reportedly not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash, according to the State Patrol.
It was not immediately clear what caused the driver to lose control of the vehicle. It is also unknown if drugs or alcohol were factors in the crash, according to the State Patrol. The crash's cause is still under investigation.
One lane of I-90 east was blocked as the state Department of Transportation repaired a section of damaged guardrail.
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