Children, pregnant woman injured in I-5 crash
Trooper Brandy Kessler said the man was southbound on I-5 in a Honda Civic just south of DuPont Road when he slammed into a Ford Expedition, causing the large SUV to crash into a jersey barrier and roll over into the northbound lanes.
Riding in the Expedition were nine people - six children, a man and two pregnant women - and none of them was wearing a seat belt, Kessler said.
A 3-year-old boy and a 6-year-old girl were ejected from the SUV when it rolled. Both were rushed to Mary Bridge Children's Hospital in Tacoma with critical injuries. The boy was then airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
One of the two pregnant women was also thrown from the vehicle but was expected to survive. The other two adults and four children, who range in age from 3 to 16, were taken to an area hospital to be treated for minor injuries.
"We just need to make sure that everybody just understands how important it is to wear seat belts, especially young children," Kessler said.
"You look at this Ford Expedition, this big vehicle... not a whole lot a damage inside the vehicle but, because they weren't wearing their seat belts this turned into a very devastating tragedy for this family. Had they had their seat belts on they probably would have been walking away."
The crash, which happened about 1 p.m., forced troopers to shut down several lanes of traffic in both directions on I-5. At one point northbound traffic was backed up more than seven miles.
The 20-year-old Federal Way man who was driving the car that hit the Expedition was arrested for investigation of vehicular assault.
