CLARK COUNTY, Wash. — A husband and wife were struck by a pickup truck Friday night after a suspected impaired driver sped into a fire truck parked on the side of Interstate 5 in Clark County. One person was killed and another critically injured.
The driver, identified as 44-year-old Guadalupe Munoz, hit the front of a fire truck before striking and killing the woman, 42-year-old Jessica Blinebry.
Blinebry and her husband had pulled over to help a driver who had crashed into a guardrail along the interstate, Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue officials said.
“They were trying to be good Samaritans," said Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue Assistant Chief Eamonn Ryan. "And it cost one of them their life.”
It happened around 10 p.m. on I-5 northbound near milepost 17. First responders were on the scene of a crash when Munoz's pickup truck veered into the closed-off lane and crashed into the fire truck. The car missed two firefighters but hit the two good Samaritans who were out of their car and helping with the initial crash, Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue said.
"Firefighters had to grab that original motorist that had crashed and jump out of the way to avoid being hit themselves," said Trooper Will Finn with the Washington State Patrol.
Blinebry's husband was taken to Peace Health Southwest Medical Center. He is in critical condition, Ryan said.
Munoz was arrested and booked into the Clark County Jail for vehicular homicide and vehicular assault.
Washington state police said they want to see senseless deaths like this stop, but they need the public's help.
"Please slow down when you are passing those emergency lights," Finn said. "Move over if you can and then always put the cell phone down and wear your seatbelt."
According to Washington State Patrol, 4,388 impaired drivers have been arrested and there have been 75 deadly crashes so far this year.
Responding to emergencies along the interstate is the most dangerous aspect of firefighters' jobs, Ryan said. That's despite a Washington law, which mandates drivers must move over a lane, if possible, when they approach an emergency scene. If they can't move over, they must slow down.
“We worry more about our firefighters on freeways than in structure fires,” Ryan said.