Medical event suspected cause of second fatal crash in Whatcom County Tuesday
A man died in a single-vehicle crash that occurred Tuesday afternoon in Whatcom County that appears to have been caused by a medical event before the crash.
The death was the second on Whatcom County roadways on Tuesday, March 16.
The Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office and Whatcom County Fire District 16 responded at approximately 3 p.m. Tuesday, March 16, to the 8300 block of North Pass Road for reports of the crash, sheriff’s office spokesperson Deb Slater told The Bellingham Herald Thursday morning, March 17.
They found a 1998 Honda Passport off the roadway and lodged between two trees, Slater reported.
Emergency responders performed extensive CPR on the lone occupant of the Passport, according to Slater, but were not successful in reviving him.
“The investigation into this incident thus far indicates that a medical event may have preceded the accident,” Slater wrote. “There were no injuries on the deceased driver that were consistent with the vehicle damage.”
The Whatcom County Medical Examiner is working to determine a cause of death, according to Slater, and the man’s identification will not be released until that time.
Approximately 3½ hours before the crash along North Pass Road, an 18-year-old from Abbottsford, B.C., died after he was reportedly kneeling in the southbound lanes of State Route 9 and lunged into the trailer of a passing semi truck that attempted to avoid him.
Tuesday’s two fatalities would represent the sixth and seventh on Whatcom County roadways during the first 2½ months of 2022, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation Crash Data Portal. There were 15 fatal crashes through all of 2021, according to WSDOT, after there were eight in 2020.
