One dead, trooper injured in freeway crash near Custer

One woman died Friday afternoon, Dec. 18, after crashing her car into a state trooper’s cruiser that had parked along Interstate 5, according to the Washington State Patrol.

The trooper was injured and taken to a local hospital. He had stopped his Chevrolet Caprice patrol car on the side of the freeway around 4:30 p.m., as he responded to a rollover crash at mile post 268 of northbound Interstate 5, south of the exit to Birch Bay-Lynden Road, according to the Washington State Patrol.

A car crashed into the rear of the patrol car as the trooper sat inside, trapping him, said Trooper Heather Axtman. The trooper suffered a head injury, and he remained at the hospital hours later. He was able to talk, Axtman said. He hasn’t been identified by name.

The driver of the car that hit the cruiser was unresponsive and seriously hurt, Axtman said. About an hour after the crash, Axtman reported the woman had died. Next of kin hadn’t been notified as of Friday night, so the woman’s name and age haven’t been made public.

Her heavily damaged car came to a rest in the median; the trooper’s Chevy was askew in the left lane.

No one in the original rollover crash suffered serious injuries.

Two lanes of the freeway were shut down while troopers investigated.

Around the same time, a five-car crash stalled traffic on Interstate 5 in Bellingham. No serious injuries were reported in that crash.

This story was originally published December 18, 2015 at 5:33 PM with the headline "One dead, trooper injured in freeway crash near Custer."