Around 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Thurston County Sheriff Derek Sanders was involved in a two vehicle collision at the intersection of Lawrence Lake Road Southeast and 153rd Avenue Southeast in Yelm.
Sanders was driving his department vehicle southbound when a pickup truck, traveling east, pulled in front of him, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office. Sanders was airlifted from the scene to Harborview Medical Center where he “remains in satisfactory condition,” the release stated.
In a Facebook post, a Tenino area community member and activist Kendhal Tuttle shared a conversation she had with the sheriff’s mother on Sunday evening.
“He's doing as well as can be expected … still intubated, waiting for that sedation to wear off,” Sanders’ mother is quoted as saying in the post. “So far, all the preliminary scans are looking good. … He has his girlfriend by his side with one of his very best friends, lots of Seattle PD, TCSO with him.”
Sanders’ mother is also quoted saying the dispatch center “did an amazing job getting him airlift(ed).”
In a call with The Chronicle, the sheriff’s office did not confirm whether or not Sanders was responding to a call at the time of the incident, but did say he’d been on duty throughout the day.
The driver of the other vehicle was identified as a 30-year-old man from Yelm. He was uninjured, however, he did show signs of impairment, according to the sheriff’s office.
The Washington State Patrol is investigating the collision and will determine if the driver was impaired.
Additional information will be released as it becomes available, the office stated.
According to Thurston County Scanner, a volunteer group of people who monitor scanners in the area and posts about incidents to Facebook, the Yelm Police Department, Southeast Thurston Fire and the sheriff’s office all responded to the scene of the crash.
The page reported Sanders was able to use his radio to request his own aid on the scene.
