Four people were killed, three injured in Highway 97 crash near Toppenish
Four people were killed and three injured — one critically — in an early morning crash between a semi-truck and a sports utility vehicle Tuesday near Toppenish.
Yakima County sheriff’s deputies were called to U.S. Highway 97 just south of Toppenish around 4 a.m., said sheriff’s spokesman Casey Schilperoort. The semi-truck driver had minor injuries, while four of the six people in a Dodge Durango were dead at the scene, Schilperoort said.
The two other passengers were taken to Yakima hospitals, where one was in critical condition and the other was listed as serious, Schilperoort said.
The crash left the northbound lanes of the highway closed until 10:40 a.m., as investigators examined the crash scene, according to the state Department of Transportation.
Schilperoort referred further questions to the FBI, which is investigating the crash because the Durango’s passengers were Yakama Nation citizens.