Law enforcement personnel block roadways near the Northbound entrance of Interstate 5 at Chamber Way as they investigate a truck that is seen crashed into a guard-rail Friday night in Chehalis.
The Chehalis Police Department is asking for witnesses to an incident in which a driver was reportedly stabbed and crashed at approximately 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 17 in Chehalis.
Officers responded that day after a silver 2010 Ford Ranger crashed at the northbound on-ramp to Interstate 5 at Chamber of Commerce Way in Chehalis.
The driver, a 65-year-old man, reported that he had picked up a hitchhiker in the area, and that the person had stabbed him. The driver was airlifted to an area hospital for treatment.
The suspect was described only as a white male with short blonde hair.
The Chehalis Police Department is asking anyone who witnessed the incident or who has any knowledge of it to call the department at 360-748-8605.
As previously reported in The Chronicle, several 911 calls following the incident referenced a possible sighting of a suspect.
At 2:02 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 18, police received a report of a stolen vehicle in the 1500 block of North National Avenue. A woman reported she got off work and found that her 1989 Honda Civic was gone.
Due to the proximity to the stabbing, there was some concern that the theft was connected to the stabbing suspect’s attempts to flee the area, but police didn’t find any definitive evidence linking the two incidents.
Later that Saturday morning a woman reported she saw the suspect behind her workplace in the 1700 block of Northwest Louisiana Avenue, about a half hour before the stabbing was reported. She described the man as 25 to 30 years old with blonde hair, brown or hazel eyes, a “scruffy, short beard,” a dark blue jacket over a sweatshirt and carrying a rolled up sleeping bag.
The Chronicle will update this story when more information is available.
