Vehicular assault charges filed in road-rage pileup
Danney Ball
Vehicular assault charges filed in road-rage pileup
2005-05-20by Noel S. Brady
Journal Reporter
Dueling hand gestures led to a serious traffic accident that injured an innocent motorist, prosecutors said Thursday in felony charges filed against a Kent man and a Seattle man accused of road rage.
Ryan R. Kinsey of Kent and Patrick S. Kelly of Seattle, both 25, were charged with one count each of vehicular assault for causing a four-vehicle accident Monday evening on northbound Interstate 5 just south of South 376th Street in Federal Way.
Both men are scheduled for arraignment May 31 at the Regional Justice Center in Kent.
Tempers apparently flared when road construction caused Kelly, who was driving his 2002 Volkswagen Jetta, to merge in front of Kinsey's 1998 Toyota Tacoma pickup, prosecutors said. Kinsey then accelerated past Kelly and displayed a finger. Kelly, in turn, sped past Kinsey and returned the gesture.
As the men exchanged gestures, witnesses told investigators both were ``weaving in and out of traffic'' at speeds in excess of 70 mph, until Kelly's Jetta slammed into the rear of Kinsey's pickup. The jolt launched the pickup sideways across two lanes into the path of a green 1997 GMC truck driven by Loren Salmonson of Fife.
Salmonson's truck then slammed into the driver-side door of Kinsey's pickup. Kinsey's vehicle then crossed the interstate divider and careened out of control into the southbound lanes of I-5, before impacting a guardrail on the west side of the highway.
Seconds later, prosecutors said, a northbound white Ford van struck Kelly's Jetta on the right shoulder of the interstate. The van driver was not seriously injured.
Rescue crews arrived to find Salmonson trapped in his truck. Once extricated, the 55-year-old man was rushed to Harborview Medical Center and later listed in satisfactory condition with broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder, a concussion and cuts on his head and hands.
Responding State Patrol troopers received reports of road rage immediately upon arrival. One trooper smelled the scent of marijuana from Kinsey's pickup. Troopers searched the pickup and found a small pipe on the floor board. Residue in the pipe tested positive for marijuana, according to charging papers.
Troopers observed that Kinsey's eyes were dilated and red. They later determined that he was impaired. Kinsey, a wood-floor installer, also admitted to taking testosterone in the form of steroids which, he said, might have influenced his behavior.
Kelly told troopers that he had become upset over Kinsey's hand gestures and sped up to return the gesture.
Neither Kelly nor Kinsey was seriously injured.
