A 70-year-old woman died and a Seattle woman has been arrested on suspicion of multiple crimes after a wrong-way crash on Pacific Avenue in Olympia Saturday afternoon.
The Washington State Patrol and Thurston County Sheriff's Office both released information about the fatal wreck.
The incident began about 4 p.m. Saturday, according to the sheriff's office. That's when the Seattle woman, 33, allegedly began asking residents in the east Lacey area for fentanyl. One of those residents asked the woman to leave and she allegedly responded by accelerating her vehicle toward that person.
Deputies responded and later saw the woman driving recklessly through oncoming traffic on Pacific Avenue Southeast. She refused to pull over, so deputies began to pursue her vehicle. Olympia police also deployed spike strips to slow the vehicle, but she continued to drive recklessly, according to the sheriff's office.
At that point, troopers say the woman was driving west in the eastbound lanes of Pacific Avenue.
Meanwhile, three people made a turn from northbound Fones Road onto eastbound Pacific Avenue in their car and the Seattle woman crashed head on into them, according to the state patrol.
The driver and both passengers were injured and taken to Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia. One of the passengers, a 70-year-old woman from Georgia, later died. She was identified as Gina C. Munna, according to the state patrol.
The Seattle woman was arrested on suspicion of the following: second-degree murder, vehicular homicide, two counts of vehicular assault, possession of a stolen vehicle, felony eluding, felony hit-and-run and driving with a suspended license.
Sheriff Derek Sanders said in a separate social media post that the woman has been arrested 47 times and has 23 gross misdemeanor convictions.
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