Married couple identified as victims of Trent Avenue crash, 45-year-old charged with vehicular homicide

Garrett Cabeza, The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.
·2 min read

Aug. 17—The two people who died in a three-vehicle crash last week on East Trent Avenue were a married couple, and the driver accused of causing the fatal collision has been charged in their deaths.

Michaele Zadekian, 53, and Steven Harnasch, 44, died of blunt force injuries of the head, neck, torso and extremities, according to the Spokane County Medical Examiner's Office.

Facebook pages for Zadekian and Harnasch show they were married to each other and lived in Spokane.

Kelly Dockins, 45, was charged with two counts of vehicular homicide.

Witnesses told police Dockins, who was driving a Ford Explorer, was pulling out of the SERVPRO driveway, 4625 E. Trent Ave., onto Trent Avenue when he collided with a westbound silver Mitsubishi Lancer. The Mitsubishi was pushed in front of an Avista Utilities commercial vehicle, which struck the vehicle a second time, witnesses said in court records.

The Avista driver told police Dockins got out of the SUV, approached the Mitsubishi and became distraught, saying something akin to, "Oh my god, they're dead."

A police officer noted the front-end damage to the Ford and Avista vehicles, as well as extensive damage all over the Mitsubishi, were consistent with witness statements.

Dockins told police he caused the crash and corroborated witnesses' descriptions of it.

He said as he started to pull his car out of the gravel parking area of SERVPRO, he looked left and right and started entering Trent Avenue when he struck a westbound vehicle. He said the vehicle swerved to avoid a crash, causing it to lose control before colliding with the other vehicle.

An officer noticed a small abrasion on the top of Dockins' head and another near one side of his forehead, documents say. The officer said in documents Dockins complained of dizziness. Medics determined Dockins did not require immediate medical attention, the officer wrote.

Dockins told police he did not have cannabis that day, but when he uses cannabis he uses cannabis concentrate.

Police believed Dockins was impaired, based on field sobriety tests, according to documents.

He was taken to MultiCare Deaconess Hospital, where he was medically cleared.

At the hospital, Dockins told police he did not have central nervous system stimulants. When police tried to clarify when he last used a stimulant, Dockins invoked his Miranda rights.

Police obtained a warrant for Dockins' blood, court records show.

Dockins remained in jail Thursday on a $100,000 bond. He is set for an arraignment Tuesday in front of Spokane County Superior Court Judge Timothy Fennessy.

According to Zadekian's obituary, she was a registered nurse with three sons and four grandchildren. Zadekian loved photography, motorcycle rides and her dogs, the obituary said.