By Caleb Hutton
This afternoon I swung by the Bellingham Municipal court building to see the aftermath of a crash Sunday evening, Jan. 20, that sent one man to St. Joseph hospital and another man to Whatcom County Jail.
Here’s a draft of the first half of the story.
BELLINGHAM — A suspected drunk driver was arrested after crashing into the Bellingham Municipal Court building on Sunday evening, Jan. 20, sending a 25-year-old passenger to St. Joseph hospital and causing thousands of dollars in damage.
Police believe James Philip Alegre Howard, 26, of Seattle, was drunk and speeding at 7:40 p.m. when he drove his northbound 2003 Nissan 350Z into the wrong lane of Grand Avenue, over a curb and into the grass beside the Bellingham Police Station, said police spokesman Mark Young.
At the Girard Street intersection, the car kept going due north into the right turn lane — a lane for traffic turning south. Then the Nissan bumped over another curb, off-roaded over more than a car’s length of grass and slammed into the southwest wall of the court building.
Below, the shadows make it hard to see the outline of the car’s path, so the photos show a few angles.
Looking north from the police station:
Looking south from the court building:
Damage to the building, seen through the hedges. The hole is probably about a foot wide.
For more context, here’s an aerial map.
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