The female driver was seriously injured and airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. The passenger, an 8-year-old girl, was declared dead at the scene, according to a release from the Centralia Police Department.
An investigation into a vehicle crash that killed an 8-year-old girl and seriously injured her mother Monday is still under investigation, according to the Centralia Police Department.
Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod identified the girl Tuesday as Jaredsi Torres, 8, of Rochester.
The driver in the crash, a 42-year-old woman, is the child’s mother, according to the Centralia Police Department.
At 2:47 p.m. Monday, police and emergency medical crews responded to a report of the single-vehicle collision near the intersection of Galvin Road and Gallagher Road.
Crews learned that the minivan carrying the driver and Torres crashed into a parked truck.
“Nobody saw it happen, they just heard it,” said Detective Sgt. Carl Buster of the Centralia Police Department.
The driver was seriously injured and airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
Torres was declared dead at the scene. She died of blunt-impact head injuries, according to McLeod. Her manner of death was listed as accidental.
The Rochester School District announced that extra counseling services would be available for students and that the district will make resources available to parents whose child needs support regarding the accident.
“Rochester School District is mourning the loss of a sweet second grade girl who died in a tragic vehicle accident on Monday afternoon,” a release from the district stated. “Please join us in supporting her family with thoughts and prayers.”
The crash is still under investigation, Buster said. The Washington State Patrol is assisting with a reconstruction of the crash.
“We called in the state patrol to do a work up on the accident itself because we don’t know how fast she was going, we don’t know anything like that,” Buster said. “They can get really really close in their estimates of speed and everything. They basically re-create it with the evidence they find.”
