THURSTON COUNTY, Wash. — Emergency responders spent almost an hour pulling a man from his car after a suspected DUI driver hit him head-on in the East Olympia area on Thursday night.
According to Sheriff Sanders with the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office (TCSO), deputies, medics, and firefighters were dispatched to a multi-vehicle collision with at least one person entrapped and one vehicle on fire at the intersection of Rainier Road and Fir Tree Road.
The victim has been identified as Warren Wessling, a military veteran and an IT employee for the Washington State Patrol. A GoFundMe has raised over $33,000, which will go towards his medical care as he recovers from the crash.
“Warren is now in the hospital facing serious injuries, including head and chest trauma, a broken arm, multiple broken ribs, and both legs fractured,” the GoFundMe said.
Arriving deputies discovered a head-on crash “with serious intrusion,” said Sheriff Sanders. The driver of the causing vehicle allegedly tried to run from the scene, and said to witnesses directly after the crash that it “wasn’t his fault”.
Deputies detained the man.
According to the sheriff’s office, it took the fire department more than 51 minutes to cut them out of their own car, which had to have the entire roof and all of the pillars cut by the jaws of life.
A witness told emergency responders that they were driving down the road when they saw the suspect driving at them the wrong way. The witness swerved out of the way, but the suspect hit the next car behind the witness head-on.
Deputies say the suspect had a “strong odor of alcohol on his breath.” He was arrested for DUI and vehicular assault, sent to the hospital for medical clearance, and deputies obtained a search warrant to take his blood for lab testing.
TCSO’s traffic unit was called to the scene to reconstruct the crash, with assistance from Yelm Police and Lacey Police, and Thurston County Roads responded to close the roadway down.
“Through nothing short of stellar work and heroism from our firefighters, the victim was stabilized in the car for nearly an hour while each piece of the car was cut away,” wrote Sheriff Sanders.
The victim was then airlifted to Harborview Medical Center from East Olympia Elementary School’s front lawn.
“Our thoughts are with the family and the victim tonight, who are on a long path to recovery. I cannot commend our medics, firefighters, and air lift team enough,” wrote Sheriff Sanders. “East Olympia Fire, South Thurston Fire, Lacey Fire, Thurston County Medic One, Tumwater Fire, and Airlift Northwest came through tonight and saved a life.”
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