11 DUI arrests, 2 wrong-way crashes in Tri-Cities last weekend. Police brace for more
Tri-Cities area police are concerned after two wrong-way crashes during Christmas weekend and 11 people booked for drunk driving.
The Washington State Patrol reported being slammed with DUI collisions and calls during the last long weekend, Trooper Sarah Clasen told the Tri-City Herald. And officials were worried that there might be another spike during this New Year’s weekend.
WSP is gearing up to face what may be a lot more drivers making dangerous choices but Clasen said they can’t do it alone.
“We need the public’s assistance,” she said. “It’s a completely preventable offense. ... It’s not worth risking it.”
She urged people to consider the repercussions if they drive drunk. She often hears people concerned about the ramifications of getting arrested for DUI, but the consequences could be much worse, she said.
The Washington State Traffic Safety Commission reports that 32% of fatal crashes in Washington between 2017 and 2021 involved intoxicated drivers and that’s a leading factor in fatal crashes.
Police agencies across the state have been dealing with a four-year trend of a higher than normal number of serious injury crashes. Benton and Franklin counties are no different.
Department of Transportation crash statistics show the same concerning trend that started in 2020.
On average, serious crashes in Benton County have jumped 78%.
They’ve gone from 36 a year on average between 2014-19 to 64 annually since then, according to state records analyzed by the Herald.
The increase is only slightly less dramatic in Franklin County. The annual average rose by 71%, increasing from 21 accidents with injuries each year to 36 a year in the same period.
The trend has only continued for in the last year with Benton County seeing 64 serious injury crashes so far in 2023, and Franklin County had 32, according to the Department of Transportation.
These are crashes that caused serious injuries but not deaths, according to the state Department of Transportation.
Wrong-way crashes
The Tri-Cities saw two wrong-way crashes during the holiday weekend, both on Christmas Eve.
The first happened when Esteban Franscisco Diego, 26, of Hermiston, Ore., reporteldy drove onto Highway 395 heading south in the northbound lanes.
Troopers still aren’t certain how he got going the wrong way on the divided highway, but it was just minutes after other drivers started calling 911 about the wrong-way driver with no headlines but he hit another car head-on, Clasen told the Herald.
His Honda Accord hit a Mazda CX-5 just north of the cable bridge. The other driver was Angelica M. Garcia, 37, of Kennewick.
She was taken by ambulance to Lourdes Medical Center in Pasco, and Diego was taken to Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland. Both were wearing their seat belts.
Both drivers were cited for DUI. Diego also faces charges for driving the wrong direction and without headlights.
About an hour and a half later, Maria Jimenez, 33, drove the wrong way onto Interstate 82 either somewhere near Highway 14 or at the Oregon border.
As she headed north in a 2002 Saturn, narrowly avoiding being hit by a semi truck heading toward Oregon about 2:35 a.m., say officials.
She went six miles before she hitting a 2013 Volkswagen Passat head-on. No one was hurt in the crash.
Jimenez allegedly had a blood-alcohol level of 0.124%.
