Pedestrian struck, killed by van in downtown Spokane

A woman was killed Monday afternoon when she was struck by medical delivery van while walking across Browne Street at Second Avenue in downtown Spokane.

Cpl. Ron Van Tassel of the Spokane Police Department said the van was making a turn when it struck the adult woman. Officers are running standard drug tests on the driver of the van, but aren’t investigating the collision as a criminal act.

“It’s one of those unfortunate things that just happens when there is a lot of congestion and pedestrians around,” Van Tassel said.

Ryan Nelson, a clinical liaison at Bellevue Healthcare, a business next to the collision scene, said he didn’t witness it, but he’s seen several at that intersection in the six years he’s worked in that neighborhood.

The deadly collision prompted an outcry at Monday night’s Spokane City Council meeting for lawmakers to do something to slow traffic in the congested corridor, where many walk to receive services from the House of Charity homeless shelter.

Alfredo LLamedo, a frequent speaker at the panel’s public forums, prompted City Council President Ben Stuckart to gavel the meeting to a close when he accused lawmakers of not caring about the homeless, repeatedly using an expletive as he walked away from the microphone.

Stuckart said later Monday he closed the meeting because of the profanity and comments from multiple audience members who hadn’t been recognized to speak.

“You can be upset, but that doesn’t mean you don’t follow the rules,” Stuckart said. “There’s upsetting things that happen in the city every day. We live in a city of 200,000 people.”

Installing greater traffic slowing measures on Browne would likely require approval from state and federal agencies, he said, since the road is part of the U.S. Highway system.

Staff writer Kip Hill contributed to this report.