One killed in DUI-related crash on I-90

SPRAGUE – Drugs and/or alcohol were factors in two unrelated crashes that left one person dead and three injured Saturday and Sunday.

At about 12:28 p.m. Saturday, a driver was injured and his passenger killed when their vehicle overturned in the median of Interstate 90.

Then on Monday morning, a wrong-way driver caused a head-on crash near Milepost 240; two people were injured.

The Washington State Patrol listed alcohol or drugs as factors in both crashes.

In the Saturday crash, a passenger was pronounced dead at the scene near Milepost 245, a mile east of Sprague, the Washington State Patrol reported.

At press time, the name of the passenger was being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

The driver, Thomas J. Monaghan, 42, of McCleary, was injured and transported to Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane. His condition was not reported.

According to the patrol, Monaghan was driving a 2003 Toyota Tundra pickup eastbound at about 12:28 p.m. when the vehicle veered onto the shoulder, struck two construction barrels and then crossed back over both eastbound lanes.

The vehicle then overturned in the median, the patrol reported, noting both the driver and passenger were ejected.

Neither was wearing seatbelt, the patrol reported.

Alcohol or drugs are believed to have been a factor in the crash, the patrol reported, noting it remains under investigation.

In the Sunday night crash, Edward G. Bartkowski, 76, of Spokane, was airlifted to Sacred Heart, the patrol said. Jose G. Rubio Arreguin, 28, of Kent, was taken via ambulance to that hospital.

That crash occurred at out 11:18 p.m., when Bartkowski drove eastbound in the westbound lanes of Interstate 90 in his 2010 Nissan Altima, the patrol reported. Arreguin was westbound in a 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee.

The vehicles crashed head-on into each other at Milepost 240, with the Jeep overturning and the Nissan coming to rest in the media, the patrol said.

Bartkowski was not wearing a seatbelt, the patrol reported. And Arreguin is believed to have been under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Charges are pending against Bartkowski, the patrol said. Arreguin is facing a driving while under the influence charge.

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Roger Harnack, Publisher

Roger Harnack is co-owner and publisher of Free Press Publishing. An award-winning journalist, photographer, editor and publisher who grew up in Eastern Washington, he's one of only two Washington state journalists ever to receive the international Golden Quill for editorial/commentary writing. Roger is committed to preserving local media, and along with it, a local voice for Eastern Washington.

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