Driver charged in street racing wreck

Two charges of vehicular assault are being brought against an 18-year-old driver following a car racing incident that led to the serious injury of a passenger in a second car on Monday night. Vitaliy P. Aleksandrov was booked early Tuesday into Spokane County Jail on two counts of vehicular assault, a felony, and police investigators said they are seeking formal charges of vehicular assault from the Spokane County prosecuting attorney’s office. The second driver, a 16-year-old boy, suffered a broken collarbone and bruised lung and was being treated at a Spokane hospital. A passenger riding with the 16-year-old was in serious but stable condition in intensive care with a broken neck, bruised lung and head cut. The passenger had to be extricated by firefighters from the car. Police reported that the 10:42 p.m. accident at Third Avenue and Madelia Street in east Spokane occurred as Aleksandrov in a 2002 Mitsubishi Eclipse and the 16-year-old in a BMW 330 were racing eastbound on Third. The 16-year-old lost control of his vehicle, causing it to roll and landing in a yard at 311 S. Madelia. Aleksandrov stopped at the scene. The 16-year-old is facing one juvenile count of vehicular assault in connection with the injury to his passenger. A police news release said there was no indication of impairment, “just bad judgment.”