3 injured in suspected DUI crash where driver hits WSDOT truck on I-5

This is what’s left of Leticia Byrd’s car after she found herself in the middle of a serious accident that ended up shutting all lanes of southbound I-5 near Lynnwood for hours.

Byrd had just left her Everett home and was driving her mom to Sea-Tac Airport with her sister in the back seat.

“Then I see a car accident on the right and then I see car parts as well on the freeway. And then once the headlights get to this big object, I realize it’s an engine,” Byrd recounted.

The engine was lying in the middle of the road.

She tried to swerve but still hit it, prompting the air bags to deploy and ripping off the passenger-side door.

“It was very scary. Ten, 15 seconds while the car was going forward, and I couldn’t see anything,” Byrd said. “All I can [do is] pray there’s no other cars, people around.”

Washington State Patrol said it all started with a 23-year-old woman, who is suspected of DUI, who was driving northbound on I-5 near 164th Street SW and rear-ended the back of a Washington Department of Transportation truck that was laying down sand and salt to prep for the snow.

Somehow, the suspected DUI driver’s car ended up crossing the median and hitting a couple of cars going southbound. Someone’s engine also ended up getting thrown into the road.

A total of five vehicles were involved in the crash, and several people were hurt.

“I was asleep. I just woke up, I guess, when we hit the engine. I basically, I freaked out because I was sleeping,” Erica Ayala said.

The injured people were transported to Swedish Medical Center in Edmonds where they were treated and released.

“My baby’s 4 months old. My daughter is 4 years old. I couldn’t imagine not being there for them,” Byrd added.

Though grateful to be alive, Byrd is upset learning it was an alleged DUI driver who caused the accident.

“It’s not OK to drive under the influence because then you’re putting other people’s lives at risk,” Byrd said.

WSP said three people, including the suspected DUI driver, were taken to the hospital for serious injuries.

Written by Siemny Kim