Man dies after shooting,

woman held for murder

October 12-A 39-year-old man died at Harborview Medical Center shortly after 6 a.m. after being shot earlier in the morning outside a house in the 13200 block of 4th Ave. S.W.

Following a preliminary investigation, King County Sheriff's deputies arrested a 34-year-old woman in the house and booked her into the King County Jail for investigation of homicide.

The sheriff's office was called to the scene around 2 a.m. by a 9-1-1- call reporting a shooting. Medic I transported the victim, who had not been identified by Friday afternoon, to Harborview.

He reportedly lived at the house with the arrested woman and her 14 year-old daughter, who was home at the time of the shooting but unharmed.

The circumstances surrounding the incident remained under investigation late last week.

Tukwila

Wrong-way fatal crash

October 9- A woman was killed and a man was injured in an early morning wrong-way head-on crash on Interstate 5 north of I-405 in Tukwila that was caused by an alleged repeat drunk driver.

Washington State Patrol spokesman Jeff Merrill said 27-year-old Cerrissa Christensen of Seattle, the driver of the suspect vehicle, was taken to Harborview after fracturing her ankle in the accident.

On Oct. 12, King County prosecutors charged Christensen with vehicular homicide and assault for her alleged involvement in the fatal collision near state Route 599.

Christensen, who has a previous conviction for drunken driving, was allegedly heading south in the HOV lane of I-5 when the SUV she was driving struck the northbound pickup driven by Eric Hillstrom, 19.

Bawny B. McQuistin, 18, his girlfriend and a passenger the pickup, was killed instantly. Hillstrom, who was seriously injured, remained in intensive care on Friday where he reportedly was still unconscious with severe head injuries. Both are from Tacoma.

Merrill said at about 1:15 a.m., a trooper saw Christensen's vehicle going the wrong way near the Interstate 90 interchange. The trooper, along with a Seattle police officer, tried to get her attention by flashing the lights and spotlights of their patrol cars.

When a trooper approached her after the crash, Christensen reportedly did not realize she had been involved in an accident and she smelled of alcohol.

Christensen reportedly received a deferred prosecution on Dec. 17, 2002, for what was apparently her first DUI on condition she have no traffic violations, consume no alcohol or drugs and refrain from driving without a license for five years, court records show.

In that case, her blood-alcohol level was 0.20 percent, above the state's legal limit of 0.08 percent, said Pacific prosecutor Michael Bejarano.

Her alcohol-recovery center reported on Jan. 9, 2003, that she tested positive for marijuana and had made no payments to the court.

Pacific Municipal Court revoked the deferred prosecution for failure to comply with treatment and sentenced her to two days in jail.

Last April, she was charged with hitting an unoccupied car in Burien and driving away.

The violation triggered yet another hearing in the 2002 DUI case in Pacific and she was back in court in August and on Oct. 3. Both times the court declined to hear the case because Christensen appeared without an attorney. The hearing was postponed until December.

Merrill said guards were posted at Christensen's hospital room door after she tried to escape twice last week, until she could appear in court and be booked into the King County Jail.

Strap cracks windshield

October 12-A 29-year-old Renton woman narrowly escaped being killed around 8:30 a.m. when a large strap fell from a semi truck and went through the front windshield of her SUV.

Adrianna Escamilla was driving northbound on Interstate 5 just north of I-405 when her 2007 Cadillac Escalade was struck by a steel buckle and strap. The strap buckle penetrated the front windshield to the center console between the front seats, narrowly missing Escamilla who was not injured.

Several passing motorists observed the strap fall off the flatbed semi truck and land on the roadway between the truck tires. The strap was then propelled by the tires backwards through the front windshield of the Escalade.

Witnesses were able to flag the truck driver down a short distance later.

The British Columbia-licensed 2001 Western Star flatbed semi was driven by Dhesi Sukhjeewan of Richmond, B.C. The semi was owned and operated by Bronco Transportation Systems Inc. of Langley, B.C.

Sukhjeewan was cited for failing to secure his load.

Compiled by Ralph Nichols