CHIMACUM — Jefferson County District Court Judge Jill Landes was rushed by ambulance to Jefferson Healthcare hospital on Tuesday afternoon after she was hurt in a four-vehicle collision, but she was back home by nightfall.
“I’m alive,” Landes said with a laugh, speaking by telephone from her Port Townsend home after she was discharged from the hospital.
“I do have some injuries, but I’m home, and I’m doing all right.”
State Patrol Trooper Krista Hedstrom said that Landes was taken to the Port Townsend hospital with back and abdominal pain.
No one else was injured in the wreck.
Landes, 55, was elected to the Jefferson County District Court bench in November 2006 and began her first term in elected office in 2007. Before that, she served as a Clallam County prosecutor for 11 years.
The chain-reaction collision occurred just before 1 p.m. Tuesday. It stopped traffic along state Highway 19, 3 miles south of Chimacum at Milepost 6, for more than one hour.
Man cited
The State Patrol cited Larry R. Henson, 68, of Valdez, Alaska, in the wreck.
The police said that Henson followed too closely and failed to yield the right of way in the collision.
State Police gave this account of the wreck:
Henson was driving a 1992 Buick north on Highway 19 when he struck the rear of a 2000 Honda driven by Robert X. Wang, 48, of Mukilteo, who was stopped for a turning vehicle.
Wang’s car then slammed into the rear of a 2007 Hundai driven by Mark W. Allen, 57, of Port Townsend, who was also stopped, and Allen’s car hit the rear of the 2001 Honda stopped ahead of him, which was driven by Landes.
The cars driven by Henson and Landes were completely destroyed, the State Patrol said, and were towed away.
The police estimated that Allen’s car sustained $5,000 worth of damage. It also was towed.
The vehicle driven by Wang sustained no damage and was driven away.
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Reporter Erik Hidle can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at erik.hidle@peninsuladailynews.com.
