Teen’s car destroyed in deadly Tri-Cities head-on. Friends want to help her replace it
Friends are helping a 16-year-old Pasco girl raise money to replace her car after it was demolished in a fatal collision with a wrong-way driver last week.
The six-vehicle pileup just east of the Lee-Volpentest twin bridges on Interstate 182 left an elderly driver dead, and the teen, Kylie Cushing, with a broken wrist and scrapes and bruises.
“Kylie and her family are grateful her life was spared in this tragic accident, they are saddened for the woman’s family and send prayers to them,” GoFundMe organizer Elissa Stafford-Overstreet wrote.
Kylie bought the 2003 Honda Accord with her own money and spent time fixing it up, said the post.
March 1, she was on her way home from filling out some paperwork for a new job when Cushing’s Kia Rio hit her Honda head-on in the eastbound lanes of the divided highway.
Edwina Steward, 82, of Richland, got driving in the wrong direction on the highway, possibly from the Road 100 exit, said Washington State Patrol investigators.
The Kia then hit an SUV and another car, before stopping. Two other vehicles swerved into the median to avoid the wreck.
Steward died at the scene, and Kylie was treated at Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland. No one else was injured.
Kylie’s Honda was totaled.
“Now it’s our turn to help Kylie heal from this emotionally, and help to ease the financial burden of replacing her beloved car,” Stafford-Overstreet said.
