BRINNON – A disagreement about who should drive led to a Mercedes too damaged for anyone to drive it, State Patrol said.
Michelle Seton, 35, of Port Townsend was driving a 1989 Mercedes-Benz 300 south on U.S. Highway 101 about three miles north of Brinnon at about 4:16 p.m. Monday when she and her passenger, Richard Butler, 35, of Brinnon began arguing heatedly about who should drive, State Patrol said.
Seton slammed on the brakes and told Butler he could drive, but the sudden action — coupled with icy conditions — caused the car to slide into a guardrail and spin around, landing in the ditch on the northbound side of the road, State Patrol said.
Neither Seton nor Butler was injured, but the car was too damaged to drive.
It was towed away.
Butler left the scene before police arrived, so officers only had Seton’s account of the incident, said Lt. Chris Old of the State Patrol.
Seton was issued a citation for driving too fast for conditions, Old said.
“If there was no ice in the road, there wouldn’t have been an accident,” he said.
Seton told the State Patrol that both she and Butler were wearing seat belts at the time of the wreck.
