Tag: crash

A dispute over dog discipline and a pair of Bellingham pileups


Written by | The Bellingham Herald | February 15, 2013

By Caleb Hutton

All info via police scanner.

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Driver jailed on suspicion of vehicular assault after East Badger Road crash


Written by | The Bellingham Herald | February 6, 2013

By Caleb Hutton

NOOKSACK — A driver accused of causing a three-car crash with injuries on East Badger Road was booked into jail Wednesday afternoon, Feb. 6, on suspicion of vehicular assault.

State troopers don’t believe Norberto Bravo-Vasquez, 56, was under the influence of drugs or alcohol when his 2000 Chevy Blazer barreled through a stop sign and collided with an Acura RDX, injuring three people, including himself, earlier this week at the intersection of East Badger and Van Buren roads, north of Nooksack. (Here’s a link to the full story.)


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But detectives allege he showed “disregard for the safety of others” when he ran the stop sign, said Trooper Mark Francis. The speed he was travelling and many other details about the crash have yet to come out.

Two Chilliwack, B.C., women — aged 57 and 58 — were treated at St. Joseph hospital for serious injuries after the Monday morning crash.

Bravo-Vasquez wasn’t wearing and seatbelt. He was ejected from the SUV and rushed to the hospital, where he’s been since then. A trooper drove him to jail Wednesday afternoon.

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Post-crash scene photos of the Bellingham Municipal Court building


Written by | The Bellingham Herald | January 21, 2013

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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Trooper: Driver injured in Guide Meridian crash after running red light


Written by | The Bellingham Herald | December 6, 2012

By Caleb Hutton

A woman suffered minor injuries after running a red light and striking two cars Thursday afternoon, Dec. 6, on Guide Meridian, according to the Washington State Patrol.

The 24-year-old woman was driving a Toyota Echo south on the Guide when she didn’t stop for a red light at 12:05 p.m. in the intersection at West Laurel Road, said Trooper Mark Francis.

She hit an westbound Ford pickup, flinging the Toyota into a westbound Nissan Pathfinder that was about to turn left (north), Francis said.

The woman was taken to the hospital by ambulance as a precaution. The drivers of the Ford and the Nissan — a 33-year-old Ferndale man and a 73-year-old Everson man, respectively — didn’t need to go to the hospital. Nobody else was involved.

Francis didn’t have the woman’s name offhand, but expected she would be cited. She’s from Whatcom County. Drugs and alcohol did not appear to be a factor. Troopers aren’t sure why she ran the light.

Traffic was blocked for about an hour.

Here’s the news stream from the @bhamcrime Twitter account.

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Crash on I-5 brings rush hour traffic to a crawl near Sunset exit


Written by | The Bellingham Herald | November 26, 2012

By Caleb Hutton

Updated at 6 p.m. See bottom of this post.

A rollover crash on northbound Interstate 5 on Monday evening, Nov. 26, sent one woman to St. Joseph hospital with minor injuries and caused a long traffic jam south of the Sunset Drive exit.

At this point, we heard a report of a 20-year-old “slumped over on the ground” at the scene. That didn’t sound good.

But Washington State Patrol Trooper Mark Francis told me minutes later all injuries were minor. One person was taken by ambulance to St. Joseph hospital as a precaution.

Traffic was still stalled more than a half hour later.

Update: Here’s the narrative, as told by Trooper Francis:

A Chevy Cavalier was tailing a Ford Mustang at 5 p.m. in the left lane of northbound I-5, just south of Sunset Drive. The Ford slowed for traffic up ahead. The Chevy didn’t slow down in time.

The Chevy driver swerved left to avoid a rear-end crash. But it clipped the back left corner of the other car. The Chevy flipped and went hurtling into a cement barrier.

One person in the Chevy was taken to St. Joseph hospital with neck pain. Nobody else was hurt.

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Photos: No injuries in bizarre rollover crash in downtown Bellingham


Written by | The Bellingham Herald | November 20, 2012

By Caleb Hutton

BELLINGHAM — Nobody was hurt when a Honda Civic clipped the back of a parked car on Flora Street, smashed into the side of a pickup and landed on its roof Tuesday afternoon, Nov. 20.

Police suspect the driver, Billy Joe Pinnell, 23, was under the influence of heroin. He was driving a dark green Honda west at 3:15 p.m. in the 200 block of Flora Street when its front right wheel hit the rear left wheel of a parked, older model Mercedes E-500.

Somehow, the Honda flipped over.

The back of the Honda pinballed into an oncoming Ford F-150, causing minor damage to both vehicles and stripping off the driver’s side mirror of the truck. Police were confounded by how the car flipped so quickly, when the evidence suggested it was going the speed limit.

“You tell me,” said Sgt. Mark Stokes. “I have no idea how a vehicle in that short a space can tip like that.”

Another officer chimed in that the rubber-on-rubber of the Honda’s wheel hitting the Mercedes’ wheel might have caused enough friction for the car to flip.

Danna Bowers, who witnessed the crash, was just as confounded as the cops.

“It happened so fast and I’m still trying to figure out how it’s even possible,” she said.

Pinnell was led from the scene wrapped in a blue blanket and smoking a cigarette.

Here are the photos. The flipped Honda hit the grayish Mercedes in the background.

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More on the preteen hit by a pickup in the Paradise area


Written by | The Bellingham Herald | November 9, 2012

By Caleb Hutton

For background, read here.

Chandra Racine, a neighbor, said the preteen girl, Hannah Ivanhoe, was waiting for the school bus at 9 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 8, when she was hit by the pickup in the 6200 block of Azure Way. Racine said the girl lost consciousness for a couple minutes, suffering a concussion, a broken nose, a cut on her leg and body swelling.

Here are some photos Racine took after the ambulance whisked the girl away. Ivanhoe’s headband was knocked off on impact.

As you can see, there’s no actual fog line there, as originally reported by law enforcement. But it’s pretty obvious where the fog line would be. And that gives some frame of reference for how the Ford F-150 went a few feet into the driveway.

“She was standing where she always does, at a safe distance from the road,” Racine said via email. “Or … we thought it would be safe, since it’s not in the road. I’m happy that she is going to be OK.”

Also, the girl’s mother emailed me to say Ivanhoe is actually 11 years old. State patrol gave the incorrect age.

The good news is she was released from the hospital at 2 p.m. Thursday.

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Photos of a rollover crash at the Sunset on-ramp


Written by | The Bellingham Herald | November 7, 2012

By Caleb Hutton

An equipment trailer with an excavator on it rolled over on the Interstate 5 southbound on-ramp at Sunset Drive on Wednesday morning, Nov. 7.

The trailer, hauled by a dump truck, tipped over about 9:35 p.m. a.m.

Nobody was hurt, but traffic moved slowly. The southbound on-ramp was still closed a half an hour later, at the time of this posting.

Update at 1:03 p.m. Department of Transportation crews cleared the scene two minutes ago.

This photo comes from Herald reader Carol Howard.

And for some perspective, here are a few traffic cam photos, courtesy of the state Department of Transportation.

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Minor injuries in rollover crash on West Bakerview Road


Written by | The Bellingham Herald | November 6, 2012

By Caleb Hutton

See update at the bottom of this post.

A crash blocked the intersection of East Bakerview Road and Northwest Avenue for about an hour Tuesday afternoon, Nov. 6, but nobody suffered life-threatening injuries.

Bellingham police spokesman Mark Young said all injuries were minor in the 12:10 p.m. crash. He didn’t have many details in the minutes following the crash, but expected to give out some info when the cops finish their reports.

Here’s the Twitter feed as it happened, from our @bhamcrime account:

Update at noon Wednesday, Nov. 7.

According to the Bellingham Police Department:

A woman in her 80s was driving an eastbound ’97 Chevy Blazer at the traffic light on Bakerview. The left turn light had changed to red by the time she turned left, heading northbound. An oncoming ’04 Volvo S80 hit her.

No serious injuries for the humans involved, and “no dog injuries” mentioned in the police report, said Bellingham police spokesman Mark Young.

The Chevy driver was cited for failing to yield.


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Minor injuries in Slater Road crash


Written by | The Bellingham Herald | October 24, 2012

By Caleb Hutton

A crash on Slater Road sent one person to St. Joseph hospital as a precaution Tuesday, Oct. 23, but details were scarce the following day.

Here’s what we heard over the police scanner at about 5:30 p.m.

(Sorry about the typo in that last tweet.)

I talked with Washington State Patrol Leary this morning. He didn’t have the paperwork in front of him and the crash investigator has since gone off duty, so Leary couldn’t pass along much info.

But he said only one person was taken to the hospital with minor injuries. Traffic on Slater was rerouted for a little more than an hour.


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