Failure to Yield Leads to Death in Grant County Crash
A 27-ear-old Moses Lake man is dead, and a woman is seriously hurt after a Tuesday afternoon crash in Grant County.
The driver apparently turned onto the road in the path of semi-truck
The Grant County Sheriff's Department says it's likely driver error led to a fatality around 12:34 PM Tuesday.
Juan Garcia was driving a 1998 Dodge Durango and was turning out of the parking lot of the Grant County Animal Outreach Facility onto North Randolph Road. As he was proceeding to head north, he was struck in the driver's door by a 2001 Kenworth tractor-trailer driven by 47-year-old Jeffrey Mask of Kennewick.
The Kenworth impact slammed the Durango, sending it off the road into the sagebrush. Mask's truck also left the road but did not crash or tip over.
The GCSO says despite medical attention from are fire and ambulance units, Garcia was pronounced dead at the scene. He had a front-seat passenger with him, 23-year-old Arianna Pimental, also of Moses Lake. She survived the crash and was airlifted to Central Washington Hospital in Wenatchee, where the GCSO says she is in stable condition.
Mask was not injured in the crash.
GCSO says failure to yield led to the crash
A preliminary accident investigation by the GCSO Motor Unit indicates Garcia failed to yield to the semi and turned directly out in front of the truck at close range, absorbing the impact in the driver's door and left front quarter panel.
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