Driver Dies From Accident Injuries

Wed., June 21, 2000

From Staff

A second person has died from injuries sustained in a one-car accident on I-90 east of Tyler on Monday morning.

Tracy Mernin, 33, of Spokane, died Tuesday from massive head trauma. Laura Mernin, Tracy’s 34-year-old wife, died at the scene Monday, according to the Washington State Patrol.

Passengers Judith A. Kelly, 58, and Phuoc Nuygen, 35, were injured in the crash.

Andrea Wilson, a niece of Tracy Mernin, said Mernin had a seizure that led to the crash. Wilson said Mernin was narcoleptic and epileptic.

Tracy Mernin was driving east on I-90 when the car drifted off the inside shoulder, then crossed back over the eastbound lanes, according to WSP. The vehicle went off the south side of the road, hit a dirt embankment and flipped end over end, coming to rest on its wheels.

WSP Trooper Brad Hudson said one of the surviving passengers told investigators that Tracy Mernin was having a seizure when the accident occurred. The investigation is ongoing, he said.

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