A Wilsonville woman has been charged with drunk driving and assault, accused of causing a crash on Interstate 205 and then hitting a firefighter who rushed to the scene.
Carly Raye Weddle, 38, was cited by a Washington State Patrol trooper late Tuesday and released. She faces charges of driving under the influence of intoxicants, two counts of third-degree assault and obstructing a law enforcement officer.
Trooper Ryan Tanner, state patrol spokesman, said Weddle was driving a Honda sedan north on I-205 near Southeast Mill Plain Road around 10:40 p.m., when she tried to pass a Dodge minivan on the right. The minivan's driver, Navin G. Lal, 22, of Northeast Portland, then veered left to avoid Weddle, hit a guardrail, caromed right and hit a concrete barrier.
Weddle's car spun around, stopping across two left lanes.
Tanner said arriving troopers found Weddle to be combative, saying she hit a city of Vancouver firefighter dispatched to the scene. He said police had to use a stun gun to subdue her.
Firefighters used special cutting and prying tools to extricate one person from one of the vehicles but declined to name the person. Both vehicles were "totaled," Tanner said.
Both Weddle and Lal were taken to PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center, where they were treated and released.
Tanner said the crash was caused by an "unsafe lane change, exceeding reasonable speed."
Copyright 2012 - The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
