Family devastated by death of son in I-405 crash believed caused by high driver
Sep 13, 2013, 3:07 PM | Updated: 3:46 pm
The family of a 22-year-old Federal Way man killed in a crash believed caused by a driver high on methamphetamine is devastated by the tragic death, family attorney and friend Eric Makus tells KIRO Radio.
Ian Riley Beckford was driving home Thursday night from a day water skiing and swimming on Lake Sammamish when a car smashed into him at nearly 100 miles per hour on Interstate 405 in Bellevue.
“Ian loved the water and he loved being with his family and he loved being with his friends,” said a tearful Makus. “The family’s devastated as you can imagine. They’ve lost a son, they lost a brother, they lost a nephew, they lost a grandson.”
The Washington State Patrol says the suspect, a 27-year-old Woodinville man, appeared to be high after crashing into three cars including Beckford’s 2002 BMW. The car burst into flames and Beckford died while it burned, said Trooper Chris Webb.
Two other people including a passenger in the suspect’s Audi and another in a Honda Ridgeline were taken to Overlake Hospital Medical Center in Bellevue with non-life-threatening-injuries.
The suspect was also taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. He’ll ultimately be booked into the King County Jail on investigation of vehicular homicide when he’s well enough to be released from the hospital.
Makus says it’s hard not to look at the crash as an attack by a drug addict. And his parents and 19-year-old brother can’t fathom the loss.
“What happened to Ian could have happened to me, it could have happened to you, it could have happened to anyone who drives on I-405 at 9:45 on a weeknight.”
Ian would have been 23 in November. The graduate of Federal Way High had been living at home with his family but planned to go to college this fall, Makus says.
“It’s taken one of our own, one of our best. We’re doing the best we can to understand what happened. The bottom line is a bright, strong young man with his whole life ahead of him has been tragically killed.”
