SEQUIM — An 88-year-old Sequim woman was listed in serious condition in intensive care in a Seattle hospital today after she apparently walked in front of a southbound vehicle on North Fifth Avenue Thursday night and was struck and thrown to the pavement.
Clallam County Fire District 3 paramedics treated Gloria Irwin at the scene for a broken leg and head injuries and she was then airlifted to Harborview Medical Center.
Irwin was struck in a dark stretch just north of the intersection of Hendrickson Road at North Fifth, her head smashing into the driver’s-side windshield of a 1997 Buick Century driven by Noreen S. Iliff, 58, of Sequim, who was not injured.
The motorist was not cited.
Irwin was struck with such force that her athletic shoes were knocked from her feet, one of them off the road.
Because of the seriousness of the accident, Sequim Police Chief Bill Dickinson said that police called in a State Patrol trooper to investigate the 6:26 p.m. car-pedestrian collision.
Dickinson helped direct motorists away from the scene, which was blocked off to traffic north and south for more than an hour while the scene was cleared.
The trooper concluded that the cause was pedestrian Irwin’s failure to use the intersection crosswalk about 30 feet south of where she was struck.
Charges are under investigation, the State Patrol report says.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
