Over the weekend a two car crash happened in the state of Washington.  According to the reports, a car driven by either Alfredo Navarro III or Quinnton Baxter crossed over the center lane causing a head on collision with a car driven by 65 year old Fred Brand.

Fred Brand and two passengers Megan Brown and Nicole Washington, who were riding in the car with Alfredo Navarro III and Quinnton Baxter were killed. Investigators are still investigating the cause of the crash but say empty beer bottles and cans were found in car driven by either Alfredo Navarro III or Quinnton Baxter.

I have attached a couple of the news articles below. We here at FLH would like to extend our deepest condolences to everyone affected by this accident.

From king5.com:

Fred Brand is remembered as a positive, fun loving guy who loved to make and fly kites. He was also a dedicated worker at the Tesoro oil refinery, rising before dawn to make the long drive from Concrete to Anacortes every work day.

That’s what he was doing when he was hit head on by a car that crossed the center line on Highway 20 east of Sedro-Woolley around 5:30 a.m. Friday. Police say the car that crossed over may have been driven by a drunk driver. Four young people were in that oncoming car. Two of them died.

Friends say Fred and his wife Minda are people of faith and believe everything happens for a reason — even tragedies like this.

“God knows,” said neighbor Cheryl Werda. “God’s not surprised by this and he has his reasons. When it’s our time, it’s our time.”

Brand put off retiring this year at age 65 and planned to work one more year at the Tesoro refinery where he spent many years. After retirement, he and his wife planned to move to Oregon to be closer to their daughter who was planning to have a baby.

In another tragic turn of events, friends say Minda was racing to see her husband at the hospital, but when she got to the roadblock where the crash occurred, police would not let her through. She had to take a long detour. By the time she got to the hospital, her beloved husband had passed.

“I don’t know if that had any effect on her being able to see him or not, but I know they were performing CPR on him after the accident. I don’t know if there would’ve been a chance for her to have any words with him…it’s very heartbreaking,” said Werda.

Twenty-one-year-old Megan Brown of Bellingham and 23-year-old Nicole Washington of Sedro-Woolley died at the scene. Two people, 19-year-old Alfredo Navarro III of Mount Vernon and 22-year-old Quinnton Baxter of Burlington, were injured.

Navarro and Baxter were in the front seat of the car, but it’s unclear who was driving. Police say they smelled alcohol at the scene and found a beer can in the car. Navarro has a previous DUI conviction. Baxter has convictions for drugs, theft and domestic violence.

From kirotv.com :

Three people died after a head-on collision on Highway 20 near Sedro-Woolley Friday morning.

The driver of an Audi with three passengers inside crossed the center line and slammed into a red sedan, according to investigators.

The State Patrol says two women in the Audi were killed:  21-year-old Megan Brown and 23-year-old Nicole Washington.

The two men in the car who were airlifted to Harborview Medical Center are 19-year-old Alfredo Navarro, Jr., and 22-year-old Quinnton Baxter. Both men were listed in serious condition in ICU Friday night.

See photos of the crash scene here.

Investigators don’t know which of the men was driving. They are still investigating the cause of the crash but say empty beer bottles and cans were found in the Audi.

Brown’s family gathered Friday night to grieve the death of the 21-year-old.  Brown’s brother, Jake Brown, died in December from an asthma attack.

Brown’s mother was consoled by family members as she talked to KIRO-7 outside her Mount Vernon house.

 “I went from 5 children to three in just six months,” said Brown’s mother, Julie Orestad, “This is just not how my life was supposed to be”.

Orestad is upset the driver of the car had likely been drinking. She said her daughter called friends for a ride home. Orestad wishes her daughter would have called her instead.

She saw the accident on the news Friday morning, and even posted on Facebook that she hoped it wasn’t anyone she knew. When troopers arrived at her house Friday, her first reaction was to close the door.

“I had no idea that was my baby girl,” Orestad said.

Contributors:

• Retaliation509

Websites:

• 5 Involved In Highway 20 Accident
• 3 killed, 2 injured in suspected drunk driving crash
• 3 killed, 2 hurt in Highway 20 crash
• PHOTOS: Three killed in head-on Skagit crash