Recent traffic deaths in Mountlake Terrace

Car sheared off a power pole then caught
on fire and crashed into house
Photo courtesy South County Fire

On Sunday, December 22, 2019 at 2:30am, a driver speeding northbound on I-5 got as far as Mountlake Terrace before he sideswiped another vehicle and careened into a roadside barrier and concrete bridge support near the 236 St SW overpass just eight blocks north of the King county line.

The vehicle caught on fire.

The driver, Randy J. Betterton, 28, of Bothell, was pronounced dead at the scene. His passenger, a 22 year old male, was wearing a seat belt. He was injured and transported to Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett. The driver of the sideswiped vehicle was not injured.

The collision was investigated by the Washington State Patrol.

Car sheared off the power pole
before crashing into house
Photo courtesy South County Fire

On Monday, January 6, 2020, at 7:45am, a car sheared off a power pole, caught on fire, went through a fence and crashed into a house at 220th St SW and 44th Ave W in Mountlake Terrace. The house caught on fire. South County Fire responded.

The driver of the vehicle, a Mountlake Terrace woman in her mid-20s, died. A woman who was in the house was taken to hospital as a precaution for smoke exposure.

Then on Monday, January 6, 2020 another driver crashed into a building, but this one ran away. Here's the story as reported by MLTNews.com

Mountlake Terrace police are looking for the driver of a vehicle that crashed into a mixed-use building at 24001 56th Ave. W. early Monday morning, then fled the scene. 

According to Mountlake Terrace Police Chief Pete Caw, an officer had concluded a security check at the Recreation Pavilion just after 2:30 a.m. Monday when he observed a silver Acura sedan “driving at a very high rate of speed” near the 22800 block of 56th Avenue West.  The vehicle was driving too fast for police to catch up, but the officer observed the vehicle run a red light at 236th Street Southwest and then lost sight of it. 

Patrol units checking the area located the vehicle after it had crashed through the front door of first-floor medical offices. Occupants living in the residences upstairs were uninjured, police said. The driver had left the scene. 

While police were investigating the incident, the registered owner called 9-1-1 and claimed that her vehicle had been stolen.  However, further investigation revealed that the car had not been stolen but was instead being driven by her boyfriend. 

The vehicle was removed from the building and towed to the police department. Caw said that police are still searching for the driver.