Driver Charged After I-5 Crash With WSP Cruiser Turns Fatal

KENT, Wash. — A Washington State Patrol trooper was standing outside his patrol vehicle while helping a disabled motorist early Sunday morning last week when a suspected impaired driver slammed into the patrol vehicle on southbound Interstate 5, killing one passenger and injuring two others.

This Crash Report is sponsored by CrashLaw.NET, a legal resource for crash victims in Whatcom County.

The trooper had stopped just north of State Route 516 with emergency equipment activated on Sunday, Nov. 1. According to updated information provided by CO1 Justin Roulanaitis with Washington State Patrol’s Bellevue Communications office to PNW Daily on Nov. 9, before the crash the trooper was assisting a disabled vehicle when a southbound 2020 Honda Civic approached in the same lane. The report said the Honda then struck the unmarked patrol vehicle, propelling it into the disabled vehicle.

“The trooper was with a blocking disabled when a vehicle struck the patrol vehicle while he was outside of the vehicle. Driver arrested for suspected impairment.”

— Trooper Rick Johnson, Washington State Patrol

Devastating Impact From the Collision

The high-impact collision pushed the patrol vehicle into a 2006 Acura TL and killed 27-year-old Sterling M. Smith of Atlanta, Georgia, who rode as a passenger in the Honda.

The Honda’s driver, 21-year-old Aiden V. Watson of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, and another passenger, 21-year-old Tyler C. Clark of Lacey, suffered injuries. Ambulances transported both men to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

The State Patrol listed DUI and vehicular assault charges against Watson. According to the collision report, suspected impairment was listed as the cause and that drugs or alcohol played a role.

Two teenage passengers in the Acura, one from Auburn, one from Federal Way, escaped injury.

The collision totaled all three vehicles and blocked the southbound fifth lane for approximately three hours and 44 minutes.

The crash underscores the danger troopers and other emergency responders face when they stop along busy highways to help stranded motorists. It was the second WSP vehicle struck while responding to an incident in a matter of days on I-5.

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