PORT ANGELES — A 46-year-old woman, apparently fleeing an argument with her husband, died in a high-speed crash with a State Patrol trooper in an unmarked car in pursuit on U.S. Highway 101 about 10 miles west of Port Angeles on Thursday.
Lisa Marie Bird died after the car she was driving swerved to the left and flew over an embankment, rolling about 50 feet, at about 2:40 p.m., State Patrol Trooper Krista Hedstrom said.
The crash at Milepost 241, near the bend near Hanson Road and the Elwha River, happened about one minute after State Patrol Trooper Kenneth Ahrens, driving an unmarked car, had turned on his lights and begun to pursue the 2000 Oldsmobile Bravada, which was clocked traveling faster than 90 mph, Hedstrom said.
“He had her marked as going 90 miles per hour or more and driving erratically,” she said. “He was going about 90, and she was pulling away from him.”
Hedstrom said that one of Bird’s tires was so flat that she was driving on the rim.
“Whether she knew she was being followed by a law enforcement officer is something we’ll never know,” Hedstrom added.
Bird was alone in the car. No other vehicle was involved.
Argument
It appears that Bird was fleeing from an argument with her husband, said Clallam County Chief Criminal Deputy Ron Cameron.
Clallam County Sheriff’s Department deputies had gone to the Birds’ home on Thompson Point Road at about 2:13 p.m. after an emergency 9-1-1 phone call was placed and hung up before anything was said.
When dispatchers called back, they heard a woman in the background but didn’t speak to anyone.
By the time sheriff’s deputies arrived, Bird had left.
Investigators interviewed her husband, John Craig Bird, 57, and found that the two had argued, Cameron said.
It was unclear late Thursday what the argument was about or who dialed 9-1-1, Cameron said.
“It is still very early in the investigation, and she left the scene prior to the arrival of deputies,” he said.
“An argument occurred — that we know — but anything else I am still unsure of.”
Because a trooper was involved in a pursuit that ended in a fatality, an investigation will be done, Hedstrom said.
“We investigate any time there is a pursuit involved in a fatality,” Hedstrom said.
“But he was only behind her for less than a minute, so that is a very short time.”
Shortly after the 9-1-1 call that drew deputies to the Birds’ home, Ahrens, a trooper for 23 years who has been stationed in Port Angeles for 18 years, was driving east on Highway 101, spotted a speeding car, pulled a U-turn and turned on his lights as he began pursuit.
Less than a minute after he began to follow the car and attempted to pull the driver to the side of the road, the vehicle rolled several times down the embankment. He reportedly used a fire extinguisher to put out a small flame that erupted inside the car.
Bird was wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash, Hedstrom said.
A physician who witnessed the crash confirmed that Bird died at the scene, Hedstrom said.
Detectives are investigating whether drugs or alcohol contributed to the crash.
Traffic was slowed for several hours as detectives investigating the scene blocked off part of the road, the state Department of Transportation said.
__________
Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
