Gig Harbor, WA : 1 dead after 4-vehicle, chain-reaction collision in Fife on Monday afternoon, March 13, 2017

One person was killed Monday in a four-vehicle collision in Fife, according to police.

The rear-end, chain-reaction crash happened about 1 p.m. on southbound 70th Avenue East near Valley Avenue East, Assistant Police Chief Dave Woods said.

The driver of one of the vehicles, a man in his 40s, died at the scene, detective Sgt. Tom Thompson said.

Police closed 70th Avenue from 26th Street East to Valley Avenue East to investigate the collision. The road stayed closed until 9:30 p.m.

According to Thompson:

The driver who set off the crash, a man in his 20s, was in a pack of cars on 70th Avenue in the left lane and pulled into the right to pass.

“That time of day, it’s just a heavily traveled road,” Thompson said. “There’s a lot of traffic coming in from Interstate 5 and the Port of Tacoma.”

At Valley Avenue East, the right lane becomes a turn-only lane. Because of that, the man swerved back into the left lane.

“Unfortunately, there were other vehicles in the lane of travel, stopped for a red light at Valley Avenue East,” Thompson said.

The man’s car slammed into the back of a car, which hit another car, which hit a rental truck.

The driver of the first car hit was killed. The driver of the second car hit was taken to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The car driven by the man in his 20s was thrown across 70th Avenue and ended up on the northbound side, facing southbound.

He was detained at the scene before being taken to an area hospital for observation, then was returned to the scene to talk to investigators.

Source :
1 dead after 4-vehicle, chain-reaction collision in Fife, police say