Man who died after SUV fell from High Drive died from gunshot; death ruled suicide

The driver of an SUV that plunged down a High Drive embankment on Spokane’s South Hill earlier this week died by suicide, the Spokane Medical Examiner recently ruled. The 36-year-old man reportedly shot himself in the head.

Spokane police and firefighters were called to the busy arterial at about 11 a.m. Monday morning near 33rd Avenue, where they found an SUV that had rolled about 300 feet down the hill before hitting at least five trees. By the time rescue crews approached the vehicle, the driver already was deceased.

The section of High Drive where the SUV left the roadway does not have a guardrail.