FOLLOWUP: What’s happened since Wednesday morning’s deadly West Seattle Bridge crash

(SDOT camera image from shortly after crash)

On the third night since the early-morning West Seattle Bridge crash that ended the lives of two 18-year-olds, here’s what we know, after various followup inquiries:

The driver accused of hitting them, described by police as believed to have been “impaired,” is apparently still in the hospital. On Wednesday afternoon, police still didn’t know his name, but they do now, SPD spokesperson Det. Judinna Gulpan told WSB today. In most cases, though, police don’t release a suspect’s name until and unless they are booked into jail, and because of the suspect’s condition, that hasn’t happened yet. We’ve asked the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office whether charges might be filed while he remains in the hospital, but haven’t yet received an answer yet. If and when charges are filed, that is likely the first time we will get more details on what investigators have found. There have been various reports that people saw him as far away as Roxbury and called him in; we have listened again to archived dispatch audio, and there is one mention of a possibly DUI driver, no vehicle described, near 35th and Roxbury 11 minutes before the report of a wrong-way driver in a white truck on the bridge; an officer from the Ocean sector in South Seattle was headed up to check that out when, two and a half minutes later, she happened onto the crash and radioed that in.

Meantime, crowdfunding pages have been launched for the families of both victims, who are from Snohomish County: The one on behalf of Khalea Thoeuk, who was in her senior year at Snohomish High School, is here; the one on behalf of Riley Danard is here. Finally, in addition to the suspect driver’s “impairment,” some have wondered if bridge entrances need better signage or markings to deter wrong-way entries. That question hasn’t landed on SDOT’s radar yet, according to spokesperson Ethan Bergerson.

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