Repair shop gutted by fire after car crash

A 33-year-old Spokane woman was upgraded to serious condition Thursday after she sped away from Spokane police and eventually crashed into an auto repair shop, setting it on fire.

Wendy A. Drake crawled from the wreck and flames, witnesses said. She was flown to Harborview Medical Center, where she initially was listed in critical condition with burns to her upper body, police spokesman Dick Cottam said.

“It’s just a miracle that she got out alive,” witness Kathleen Ragudo said. “I don’t know how someone survives something like that.”

The 2:07 a.m. fire gutted two bays of Bill’s Import Auto Repair and caused smoke damage to the rest of the business. Owner Bill Mullins, who is Kathleen Ragudo’s father, was waiting Thursday morning for an insurance adjuster to arrive.

“It’s pretty close to a total loss,” said Mullins, 62, who has operated the shop at 3315 N. Monroe St. for 20 years. “It was kind of a shock. But it was a material thing. It can be replaced.”

Mullins’ son works at the shop, and his 22-year-old grandson just started there four months ago. On Thursday morning, Mullins sat on Ragudo’s lawn, his back against a tree as he looked over at the damage. “If this happened during the day, somebody would have gotten killed,” he said.

The incident started at 1:52 a.m. when a police officer approached Drake’s 1987 Oldsmobile Cutlass, which had stopped at Garland Avenue and Alberta Street. Drake turned left in front of an oncoming car, causing that driver to swerve, Cottam said.

The officer began following the Cutlass and saw the driver run a stop sign on Alberta. The officer turned on his overhead lights, and the Cutlass stopped near the intersection with Walton Avenue, Cottam said. But Drake again drove north on Alberta. She increased speed to about 50 mph, and the officer stopped chasing her, Cottam said.

Other officers heard the radio calls and closed in on the location. Several times officers began to pursue the Cutlass, only to call off pursuits because of speed, Cottam said. At one point, the Cutlass brushed a patrol car, causing a minor scrape.

At 1:56 a.m., officers saw Drake turn off her lights near Division Street and Washington Avenue. She ran a stop sign near Wall Street and Rockwell Avenue and then turned north on Cedar Street, where an officer estimated her speed reached about 100 mph, Cottam said.

All pursuits had ended when Drake eventually turned southbound on Monroe and came down a hill where she navigated the first curve but failed on the second. The Cutlass cut across a field, drove across Cora Avenue, jumped a sidewalk, continued through a small parking lot and through a bay door at the auto shop, Cottam said.

Kathleen and Romeo Ragudo live in the house next door. They were sleeping when they heard the crash.

“We hear wrecks out here all the time,” Kathleen Ragudo said. “We knew it was a car crash. There was no braking.”

The couple got out of bed and walked out their front door. “I noticed the fire instantly. Then I saw the lady,” she said.

Drake had opened her door and was crawling out through the flames, Romeo Ragudo said.

“She was saying, ‘Oh my God. Oh my God.’ That’s all I could see. Then I went to get my kids,” he said.

The fire was raging near the corner of the Ragudos’ house where their 6-year-old daughter sleeps. Kathleen Ragudo ran to a Spokane police officer, who was sitting in his patrol car with his spotlight shining on Drake as she crawled out of the fire.

“There was fire all around her, but she didn’t have flames on her,” Ragudo said. “It was scary. It’s very upsetting to see someone in there like that and nobody helping her. I’m amazed that she got out of there.”

Several more officers quickly arrived along with a paramedic, who provided care for the woman, Ragudo said. Cottam later said Drake suffered burns and internal injuries. She was airlifted about 6 a.m. to Harborview.

Just after the crash, the fire quickly spread to a second bay door and the cars inside. A cinder-block wall kept the fire from spreading to the rest of the business, but it suffered heavy smoke damage. Spokane firefighters arrived a few minutes later to battle the blaze, Battalion Chief Ken Kirsch said. It took several minutes to extinguish the fire.

Fire and police investigators remained at the scene until later Thursday morning investigating the crash, Kirsch said. Cottam said it’s not known why Drake fled, but she had misdemeanor warrants for her arrest for possession of a prescription drug without a prescription and driving under the influence.

The fire either destroyed or damaged five cars in the repair shop. One of the destroyed cars was a 1993 Honda Accord that Bill Mullins had purchased Wednesday. “I hadn’t even changed the title,” he said.

The Cutlass crushed a Model T Ford frame that was sitting near a hoist. Raised on that hoist was a Honda Prelude that mechanics Thad Rydman and Ryan Mullins had just finished with $1,800 worth of repairs.

Bill Mullins had to call the Prelude’s owner Thursday to let him know that his car was destroyed.

“The guy said he thought his car was bad luck. It had been stolen once before,” Mullins said. “He took it pretty good.”