Semi-truck collides with passenger car on Blewett Pass

Four people suffered injuries following a head-on collision between a semi-truck and a passenger car on Blewett Pass Monday afternoon.

“Another semi-truck that had also been going southbound went to pass the jackknifed semi and went into the oncoming lanes and that’s when it struck a passenger car head-on,” Weber said in a prepared statement.

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Washington State Patrol (WSP) Trooper Jeremy Weber stated the accident occurred on U.S. Route 97 at around 1:45 p.m. after a separate semi-truck became jackknifed and blocked the southbound lanes.

All four occupants of the passenger car — Marnie Gonzalez, 56, Roneo Gonzalez, 58, Charlie Megia, 64, and Rhodora Megia, 64 — were transported to Confluence Health Hospital Central Campus in Wenatchee with injuries.

The driver of the passing semi-truck, Dorel Buse from Vancouver, was uninjured in the collision. The semi-driver was not intoxicated at the time of the wreck.

While weather conditions were a factor for the crash, Weber claimed Buse is being blamed for causing the accident.

“It was ugly and messy out there and the roadway conditions were definitely a factor,” Weber continued. “But the semi-truck driver did make an illegal pass into a non-passing lane and was cited for improper passing.”

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Traffic on the highway was blocked for several hours Monday while crews cleared the wreckage and investigators worked the scene. Blewett Pass was closed throughout Tuesday night due to wind, poor visibility, and fallen trees but has since reopened, according to WSDOT.