Kinger v. State of Washington / 2019
On June 16, 2014 at 3:00pm, Stanley Kinger was driving southbound on SR 522 in Snohomish County, with his wife Joan as his passenger. Defendant Gerardo Martinez-Urrutia was approaching from the opposite direction, heading northbound on SR 522.
As he approached a slight curve to the left, Mr. Martinez-Urrutia became sleepy, and his car drifted onto a grassy shoulder. He was abruptly awakened when the front of his car struck an orange construction barrel on the grassy shoulder. Mr. Martinez-Urrutia then swerved sharply to the left, and his car traveled across his northbound lane, and into the Kingers’ southbound lane, striking the Kinger vehicle head-on.
As a result of the impact, Joan Kinger was fatally injured and died at the scene. Stanley Kinger also sustained multiple life-threatening injuries, but remained alive. Emergency medical personnel, upon arriving at the collision scene, observed that Stanley was badly injured, but was “verbally responsive”, complaining of difficulty breathing and right leg pain. Paramedics reported that in fact his right leg was “rotated and deformed”, and both arms were lacerated and bruised. Paramedics further observed internal bleeding, with copious blood return in the chest tube they inserted. They reported that Stanley had sustained a flail chest.
Stanley was transported by ambulance to Harborview Medical Center. In spite of efforts by medical personnel to save his life, Stanley finally succumbed to his severe injuries and died. Joan was 76 years of age; Stanley was 79.
Kinger collision location
State Route 522 is 24 miles in length, running northeast from I-5 in Seattle to US 2 in Monroe. It was originally constructed in 1970, and consisted of two lanes, one northbound and one southbound. In the early 1990s, the Washington State Department of Transportation developed a plan to widen the highway to four lanes. In the early 2000s, WSDOT determined that, due to a number of collisions in which cars crossed over the centerline and struck oncoming traffic head-on, a protective barrier should be added to the road-widening plans.
Joan and Stanley
Currently, and as it existed on June 16, 2014, State Route 522 consists of the following: The southern section of SR 522 is 16 miles long, and contains four lanes and a median with protection against cross-over collisions. The center section is three miles in length, and consists of two lanes, one in each direction. It has no vehicle cross-over protection such as a barrier. The final north four-mile segment of SR 522, from the Snohomish River to Monroe, consists of four lanes, and has cross-over protection.
From the late 1980s through the present, the State has determined that SR 522 from the Paradise Lake Road to the Snohomish River is a dangerous highway, and for the sake of the safety of the traveling public, it should be widened and a barrier installed to end cross-over, head-on collisions.
The law is clear. The State has a “duty to provide reasonably safe roads and this duty include the duty to safeguard against an inherently dangerous or misleading condition.” It has failed to take these necessary steps to stop the head-on collisions, and this middle segment of SR 522 remains a “Highway of Death”.
