A 40-year-old Bremerton woman was killed instantly in an early Saturday morning car crash in Silverdale. The vehicle she was a passenger in was slammed into by an Lincoln MKS running a red light.
The collision occurred at the intersection of Silverdale Way Northwest and Northwest Bucklin Hill Road.
The driver of the Lincoln, a 28-year-old-woman and a former California resident most recently living in Bremerton, suffered minor injuries and is being held by police on $500,000 bail while under investigation of vehicular homicide and assault, along with violation of the Uniform Controlled Substance Act for possession of meth and heroin. Police said she also has a no-bail felony warrant out of California for a parole violation stemming from a burglary.
She was treated for minor injuries at Harrison Medical Center before being taken into custody and was expected to make her first court appearance on Monday afternoon, after this newspaper’s early holiday deadline.
Also hurt in the wreck was the 40-year-old driver of the Nissan, an unidentified resident of Matlock in southern Mason County, who was transported to St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma with serious injuries.
According to the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office, the fatal collision was preceded by a domestic violence investigation around 1 a.m. at the Silverdale Bistro in the 3300 block of NW Byron Street in Old Town Silverdale.
The sheriff’s office said that the Lincoln was parked near the bar and a man standing nearby matching the description of one of the people involved in the disturbance was briefly detained. Then, when deputies attempted to speak with the woman, she was uncooperative and moved from the passenger seat of the Lincoln to the driver’s seat and suddenly accelerated away from the scene westbound on Byron Street, nearly striking officers and others gathered nearby, before turning right onto Silverdale Way.
The Lincoln ultimately struck the Nissan at a high rate of speed at the front passenger door. The force of the collision caused the Nissan to rotate several times and finally stop approximately 100 yards farther north, leaving a field of debris strewn behind it. The Lincoln crashed into a galvanized steel street light pole at the northeast corner of the intersection, shearing the pole at the base. The vehicle finally came to a stop up against the south leg of a traffic control island at the intersection.
Police said the driver of the Nissan was wearing a seat belt while the woman in custody was not. Both vehicles were totaled.
Traffic signals remained on flashing red until approximately 1 p.m. on Saturday and were then cycling slower than normal due to damage caused by the collision. Anyone with information about this crash is asked to contact Deputy Andrew Aman, from the sheriff’s office traffic unit, at 360-337-4634.
