Five people are dead after a Nissan Maxima carrying four men crossed into oncoming lanes and slammed head-on into a Chevrolet Sonic on a rural stretch of highway north of East Wenatchee, Washington, killing everyone in both vehicles. The crash happened around 9:40 p.m. Sunday on the concurrent stretch of U.S. Highways 2 and 97, roughly 11 miles north of East Wenatchee in Douglas County.
According to FOX 13 Seattle, which cited a Washington State Patrol crash report, the Nissan Maxima was heading west near milepost 137 when it crossed into the eastbound lanes and struck a 2015 Chevrolet Sonic driven by a 77-year-old woman from Omak. The Sonic was traveling east at the time. Local reporting from NewsRadio 560 KPQ places the crash site about 3 miles south of Orondo, along the same corridor where U.S. 2 and U.S. 97 run together beside the Columbia River in rural Douglas County.
All five people involved were killed — the Omak woman driving the Sonic and four men in the Maxima, one of whom was identified only as 35 years old. Troopers did not release additional details about the identities of the other victims, and the crash report did not specify what led the Maxima to leave its lane.
Seatbelts and a Cause Still Under Review
WSP listed improper lane usage as the cause of the crash, per the report cited by FOX 13 Seattle. Both drivers were wearing seatbelts, but of the five people involved, only three total were properly restrained — meaning two of the four passengers in the Maxima were not wearing seatbelts at the time of impact. The Washington Traffic Safety Commission classifies seatbelt non-compliance as one of the state's “fatal four” high-risk driving behaviors, alongside impairment, speeding, and distraction, underscoring why investigators track restraint use so closely in fatal wrecks.
Troopers said drugs or alcohol were involved in the crash but did not provide specifics on which substances were present or define the driver's level of intoxication. WSP has not yet determined whether drugs, alcohol, or both contributed to the vehicle crossing the center line. The crash forced roadway closures on the highway for about two hours while investigators worked the scene.
A Highway Built for Speed, Not Second Chances
The stretch where the crash occurred is part of a 27-mile concurrency where U.S. 2 and U.S. 97 run together between Peshastin, East Wenatchee, and Orondo before U.S. 2 splits east toward the Waterville Plateau, according to background compiled on Wikipedia. It functions as a major two-lane connector between Wenatchee's urban core and smaller agricultural towns like Orondo and Omak, carrying a steady mix of local and long-haul traffic along the Columbia River. Douglas County officials announced federal funding and planning efforts this month aimed at improving safety and connectivity along that same US-2/97 corridor.
Crossing the center line into oncoming traffic is not just dangerous — it is a traffic infraction under state law. Washington's Revised Code, specifically RCW 46.61.100 and RCW 46.61.140, requires drivers to stay to the right side of the roadway and remain within a single lane. If investigators ultimately determine that impairment played a role, the legal exposure could escalate: under RCW 46.61.502, driving with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08% or higher, a THC level of 5 ng/mL or higher, or otherwise while impaired by drugs is a gross misdemeanor in Washington, and it becomes a Class C felony if the impaired driving results in a fatal or seriously injurious collision.
Part of a Troubling Statewide Pattern
The crash comes as Washington has actually seen traffic deaths decline overall. Preliminary data from the Washington Traffic Safety Commission shows statewide fatalities fell to 659 in 2025, a 10.5% drop from 2024 and an 18% decline from the 33-year high of 809 recorded in 2023. But that progress has not been shared evenly across age groups: drivers 70 and older involved in fatal crashes hit an all-time high of 112 statewide last year, a detail with direct relevance to the 77-year-old Omak woman killed in Sunday's crash.
Impairment also remains a stubborn factor in Washington's fatal crash totals. State data shows impaired driver involvement in fatal crashes rose to 390 in 2025, with alcohol present in 57% of those cases, followed by THC in 22% and methamphetamine in 8%. Those numbers loom over the still-unresolved question of what caused the Maxima to drift into oncoming traffic north of East Wenatchee.
This is not the only fatal crossover crash on a Highway 2 corridor to draw scrutiny in Washington this year. Hoodline previously reported on a fatal Highway 2 retrial in Chelan County stemming from a similar center-line crossing, as well as a deadly two-vehicle crash that shut down State Route 2 near Monroe in Snohomish County earlier this year. Washington State Patrol has not released further information on the identities of the victims in Sunday's Douglas County crash, and the investigation into what caused the Maxima to leave its lane remains ongoing.
