Officer, driver of stolen car die in crash

SEATTLE – A recently hired police officer on her way to work and a man driving a stolen Honda Civic died Monday morning when the stolen car broadsided the officer’s BMW, police said.

The King County medical examiner’s office identified the officer as Elizabeth Mary Nowak, 30. She previously had worked as an officer in the Racine, Wis., Police Department.

Nowak, the second rookie in Seattle to die in a traffic accident in three months, was hired by the city a few months ago and had been working for about a week in the East Precinct, Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske said.

The collision occurred when the Civic, which was reported stolen Sunday night, ran a red light with its lights off about five blocks southeast of the Magnolia Bridge, Officer Sean P. Whitcomb said. Kerlikowske said the stolen car was speeding but did not give a speed estimate.

Both drivers died at the scene and a woman riding in the stolen car was taken to Harborview Medical Center.

Police identified the driver of the stolen car as Neal Ryan Kelley, 35, of Seattle.

On Aug. 13, Officer Joselito “Lito” Barber, 26, who had been on the job two months, was killed when his cruiser was broadsided by a GMC Yukon that, according to investigators, ran a red light at about 80 mph.

The driver of the sport utility vehicle, Mary Jane Rivas, 31, has been charged with vehicular homicide and cocaine possession.