June 27, 2002 * 02-46-01

(SUQUAMISH, Kitsap County) -- Two local residents were seriously injured in a three-car collision Wednesday evening near here.

North Kitsap Fire & Rescue and Poulsbo Fire Department crews were called to Suquamish Way between Totten Road and SR 305 around 9:30pm. Arriving at the scene, firefighters found a light pick-up with severe front-end damage sitting crossways and blocking one lane of the road. A passenger car was over an embankment and into the brush. Approximately 20 feet from the roadway lay a full-sized pick-up truck with significant passenger-side damage and its windshield missing.

A man, later determined to be the larger truck's driver who was apparently ejected through the windshield during the crash, lay on the road shoulder. Given that he was ejected, the man -- a 36 year-old Suquamish resident -- was most likely not wearing a seatbelt. His injuries included head, arm and leg; he was initially alert and oriented but crews report that he was nearly unconscious when loaded into an Airlift Northwest helicopter for transport to Harborview Medical Center. Officials at Harborview report that, against medical advice, the man left their facility Thursday morning.

The driver of the light pick-up, a 29 year-old Suquamish woman, had been wearing her seatbelt at the time of the crash. She was suffering from low blood pressure as well as chest and arm injuries. She was also airlifted to Harborview where she remains in stable condition as of this morning.

The two occupants of the passenger car told firefighters that they took evasive action to avoid the trucks' collision, landing over the embankment. Both were wearing seatbelts, and declined medical assistance.