Alcohol cited in wrong-way fatal I-90 crash

SNOQUALMIE PASS, Wash. – A pickup truck that caused a deadly wrong-way crash on Interstate 90 near Snoqualmie Pass almost hit a state trooper head-on as the officer was responding to a report of another crash, the Washington State Patrol said Saturday.

Investigators believe alcohol played a role in the crash that killed three people, including the driver of the wrong-way vehicle and his 2-year-old son, Trooper Jeff Merrill said.

Not long before the wrong-way crash, troopers responded to a call about a pickup involved in a collision in the eastbound lanes just east of the summit near Hyak, Merrill said.

The trooper who went to investigate found no sign of either vehicle, then the patrol received six 911 calls about a pickup matching the same description that appeared to be driving the wrong way in the westbound lanes of I-90.

The pickup was headed east in the westbound lanes when it narrowly missed the trooper; another vehicle swerved to avoid the pickup, lost control and rolled over, leaving three with minor injuries, Merrill said.

Around 8:30 p.m., the pickup struck a car head-on. Troopers found liquor bottles in the truck, Merrill said. “We have indicators present about the driver that led us to believe certainly he had been drinking,” Merrill said.

The driver of the pickup, identified as Nicholas A. Curtis, 30, of Lynnwood, and his son, Jacob M. Curtis, both died at the scene. The driver of the car the truck hit head-on, Christina R. Grimsley, 26, of Yakima, also died at the scene, the State Patrol said.

Two others, including Grimsley’s infant daughter, were injured and flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Merrill said.

A nursing supervisor at the hospital could not immediately be reached Saturday for an update on their conditions.

The crash snarled traffic on one of the state’s busiest highways for hours at the start of the Memorial Day weekend. The westbound lanes of I-90 were cleared around 3:40 a.m. Saturday, about seven hours after the crash.

Then, shortly after noon, a three-car crash blocked the eastbound lanes of I-90 for more than an hour about four miles west of Easton, backing up traffic for two to three miles. Even after the wrecked vehicles were moved to the shoulder, the State Patrol said thick holiday traffic was causing three- to five-mile backups.