Driver didn’t have time to react to car ‘careening’ toward him in Bellingham fatal crash
The driver of a Chevrolet Suburban involved in a crash that killed two people Sunday evening in Bellingham didn’t have time to react as he saw the other car “careening sideways toward him,” police say.
The Bellingham Police Department released more information about the fatal crash, but they have not yet released the identities of the two people who were killed in the crash, which occurred on Lakeway Drive near the Bayview Cemetery.
Police were sent to the two-vehicle crash at 7:05 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 14, in the 2700 block of Lakeway Drive, Lt. Claudia Murphy told The Bellingham Herald in an email.
Officers arrived to find a white sedan on the curb along the north side of the street between a tree and the Suburban, Murphy reported.
Medics were working on the two men inside the sedan, but they soon told police that the men had died, according to Murphy. The driver of the Suburban was taken to St. Joseph’s hospital in Bellingham as a precaution.
Police noted the sedan had “extensive” damage on the passenger’s side of the car, Murphy reported, indicating that hit had been struck broad side by the Suburban. They also noted standing water on the roadway.
“Officers were able to determine the driver of the Suburban was driving west on Lakeway Drive, just below the posted speed limit because of the rainy weather,” Murphy wrote. “He suddenly saw the white sedan careening sideways toward him and was unable to react, colliding with the sedan.
“It is not known at this time how fast the sedan was going or what caused it to be sideways in the roadway, sliding.”
Officers found no signs of intoxication in the Suburban driver, Murphy reported.
The autopsy results are still pending on the two men who died, according to Murphy, and the Bellingham Police Department’s Traffic Division is continuing to investigate the crash to determine the cause.
The fatal crash is the seventh within Bellingham city limits so far this year, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation Crash Data Portal, and the 12th on Whatcom County roads. There were eight deadly crashes in Whatcom in 2020, and none within Bellingham.
