A suspected road-rage dust-up on the 236th Street Northeast on-ramp to northbound Interstate 5 near Arlington exploded into a three-vehicle crash Friday evening, sending two people to the hospital, putting one driver in handcuffs and scattering six dogs along the roadway. Emergency crews rushed to the on-ramp at about 7 p.m., and officials said one of the loose dogs later died. Troopers arrested a man on suspicion of vehicular assault.
Troopers and Snohomish County sheriff’s deputies responded to the scene, according to KOMO, which cited the Washington State Patrol. The station reports that the driver suspected of triggering the crash had been traveling on the shoulder before hitting a second vehicle, which rolled onto its roof. Those two vehicles then slammed into a third rig described as a car-hauler, the agency told KOMO.
How the crash unfolded
Troopers say the initial impact set off a chain reaction that flipped the second vehicle and pushed the wreckage into the car-hauler. The woman behind the wheel of the overturned vehicle and a passenger were both taken to a hospital. Officials did not immediately release details on how seriously they were hurt.
Animals escaped at the scene
In the chaos that followed, officials said six dogs got loose at the crash site, prompting a call for animal control officers to help track them down. One of the dogs died, according to KOMO. Authorities said it was not immediately clear which of the vehicles the animals had been riding in when the wreck happened.
Arrest, booking and legal stakes
The male driver was arrested on suspicion of vehicular assault and booked into the Snohomish County Jail, according to county corrections records from Snohomish County Corrections. Under Washington law, vehicular assault is a class B felony that applies when a driver acts recklessly or while impaired and causes substantial bodily harm, as outlined in RCW 46.61.522. It was not immediately clear whether prosecutors had formally filed charges.
Troopers and sheriff's investigators are still sorting out what sparked the confrontation and the crash. As of late Friday, authorities had not said whether the remaining dogs had been found, and investigators had not publicly released updated conditions for the injured motorists.
