Tri-Cities woman was working as highway flagger when killed by suspected drunk driver

A Pasco woman was killed early Saturday in a suspected drunk driving crash while she was working as a flagger at a highway construction project.

And the 21-year-old woman who hit her was being held Sunday on investigation of vehicular homicide and vehicular assault with bail set at $1 million.

Bonnie M. Stewart, 51, was struck by a car at 1:30 a.m. near the Yakima River Bridge about two miles northeast of Selah in Yakima County, said the Washington State Patrol.

The northbound lane of the highway was closed for construction work near the bridge, and traffic was being alternately diverted in the southbound lane.

Troopers said a car driven by Jada J. Gibson, 21, of Toppenish, was headed north on Highway 823 when she hit traffic stopped in the active construction zone.

Gibson’s Volkswagen Passat first hit the rear of a Peterbuilt truck stopped in the northbound lane of the construction zone. Stewart was then hit as she worked in the closed northbound lane.

One of Stewart’s family members told the Herald that the driver had passed the first flagger at the site and then hit the truck and Stewart, who had worked as a flagger on and off for a couple years.

Gibson also hit Stewart’s Ford Ranger pickup, which was parked on the northbound shoulder of the road.

Gibson was not injured but her 18-year-old female passenger from Wapato was taken to Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital.

Yakima County Jail records show Gibson was booked in just before 6 a.m. Saturday.

The state patrol’s initial report on the crash identified Stewart as a pedestrian and did not explain that she was working as a flagger at the time.

This story was originally published May 15, 2021 at 1:47 PM.