Passenger dead after driver, 13, crashes

A 13-year-old boy may be charged with vehicular homicide after a car accident near Inchelium, Wash., on Sunday that left a 23-year-old man dead.

Washington State Patrol detective Tracy Hansen said the underage driver was behind the wheel when the Ford drifted off Meteor Road near Bride Creek Road southwest of Inchelium at 4 p.m. Hansen said she did not know why the teen was driving.

“We do suspect alcohol and controlled substances,” said Hansen. Investigators found an open container of beer, marijuana and unidentified white pills in the car, she said.

The driver, identified as Edwin R. Banning of Inchelium, may also have been speeding down the dirt road. “He certainly wasn’t going 25 to 30 miles per hour,” she said.

“Obviously it was too fast for a 13-year-old.”

The car was heading west when it drifted off the road and the driver lost control. It slammed broadside into a tree on the passenger side with enough force to turn the car completely around, Hansen said.

“It actually launched a little bit on a dirt berm. It hit the tree so hard there was a debris field that was extensive.”

The passenger, identified as John K. Springer of Colville, wasn’t wearing a seat belt and died at the scene. The driver, who was wearing a seat belt, reportedly suffered minor injuries and was taken to Mount Carmel Hospital in Colville.

The teen has not been arrested or charged with a crime.

Hansen said investigators are waiting for the results of a toxicology test that will determine the presence of alcohol or drugs in Banning’s blood at the time of the accident. Such results typically take between four and six weeks to come back from the lab.

There were no witnesses to the accident.