Five people injured, one critically, in multi-vehicle pileup north of Colfax

Tribune

Five people were hospitalized Friday following a six-car crash that started when an armored truck hit a guardrail on U.S. Highway 195 north of Colfax.

There were no fatalities, according to a Washington State Patrol news release.

According to WSP, Saif A. Alhmeyrat, 23, of Spokane, was driving south in a 2003 Freightliner armored truck and lost control around 7:47 a.m. Alhmeyrat was not injured in the crash, which happened 16 miles north of Colfax. Alhmeyrat's passenger, Joshua D. Shaffer, 26, of Spokane, was taken to Whitman Hospital and Medical Center, but was later transferred to a different hospital in "stable condition," according to a spokeswoman.

Alhmeyrat's truck was blocking the northbound lane and started a chain-reaction crash, police said, when a minivan driven by Ahmed J. Hamzah, 44, of Pullman, struck the armored truck, which was demolished. Hamzah was uninjured, but his minivan was totaled.

Robert L. Spence, 73, of Puyallup, who was driving a 2002 Chevrolet Silverado, then crashed into Hamzah's minivan. Spence was uninjured, but his truck was demolished. Marcy Q. Sager, 41, of Colfax, then hit Spence's truck with her 2001 Ford Windstar minivan, which also was totaled.

Hamzah's passenger, Fadak Jasim, 10, was critically injured and was taken to Whitman Medical but was later transferred to a different hospital. A spokeswoman at Whitman did not know where Jasim was transferred.

Sager was taken to Whitman Medical Center, where she was treated and released. Her passengers, Julie D. Quilang, 66, of Colfax, and Othelo E. Quilang, 70, of Colfax, also were hospitalized. They were treated and released.

The first four vehicles were still blocking the lane when Leticia Lopez-Ortiz, 39, of Los Angeles, hit Sager's car in an unidentified vehicle, shoving it forward into the other vehicles. Lopez-Ortiz was uninjured.

Lastly, a sixth vehicle driven by Todd Krause, 43, of Colfax, entered the pile-up and hit Hamzah's minivan. Krause was not injured in the crash.

WSP said an initial cause of the crash had not been determined. Roadway conditions were unavailable. The highway was closed for about four hours. All drivers and occupants were wearing seat belts.