Shocking Crash Kills 2, Hurts 4 West of Ephrata Sunday Morning
The Grant County Sheriff's Office has released final information about a fatal crash near Ephrata from Sunday morning.
Car runs stop sign, gets hit by truck.
Around 8:30 AM a Volkswagen Jetta driven by 18-year-old Cesar Torivio Balderas Jr. of Moses Lake was headed east on Baird Springs Road NW approaching the intersection with Sagebrush Flats NW. The location is about a mile west of Ephrata.
When Balderas Jr. got to the intersection, he did not stop for the stop sign, and his car was t-boned in the passenger door by a Chevy truck driven by 49-year-old Ryan Reinhart of Chelan, who had the right of way.
Reinhart and a 17-year-old passenger with him suffered non-life threatening injuries and were treated at Columbia Basin Hospital in Ephrata.
However, two people in Balderas Jr.'s car, 18-year-old Mya Kay Avila, of Ephrata, and Dejay E. Troupe, age 23 of Spokane, died at the scene. Troupe was not wearing a seatbelt and was ejected from the car.
Balderas Jr. and another male passenger suffered life-threatening injuries and were airlifted to Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane. According to the GCSO, alcohol is believed to have been a factor in the crash as to why the car ran the stop sign, and the incident is being as a criminal incident.
Both vehicles rolled at least once, and the truck struck a power pole after the crash, triggering a small brush fire that was quickly put out.
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