Update: GoFundMe started for family of man killed in Richland crash
A 23-year-old driver is dead after smashing into a streetlight pole at a well-known Richland intersection just before 4 a.m. Friday.
The car appeared to be heading south on George Washington Way when Dylan Stills of Richland lost control at the slight curve at the corner of Jadwin Avenue. The light pole was crumpled and a city of Richland basalt sign destroyed.
Debris from the car was strewn along a wide area, with the chassis ending up on the other side of Jadwin Avenue. Richland police said in a Facebook post that there was only one person in the car.
“Dylan was a smart, talented and hardworking young man with an incredible sense of humor,” said a GoFundMe started to help his family late Friday afternoon. “He loved making people laugh, enjoyed superheroes and adored his dog Daisy.”
Donations to the GoFundMe will be used to cover expenses of a celebration of life.
Stills listed Richland as his current address, but Benton City as his hometown on his Facebook page.
George Washington Way
Police and city crews shut down sections of George Washington Way and Jadwin Avenue while officers investigated.
George Washington Way was reopened before 9:30 a.m., but police said then that Jadwin would remain closed until repairs to the streetlight could be made.
George Washington Way is one of the busiest streets in the Tri-Cities, recording an average of about 41,000 vehicles daily along the stretch south of Jadwin Avenue, including commuters to the Hanford site, Washington State University Tri-Cities and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
It is second only to the Interstate 182 ramps at Road 68 in Pasco, according to a 2024 traffic study by the Benton Franklin Council of Governments.
The intersection was also the site of a triple fatal crash in February 2022.
Jennifer A. Duong, 23, was racing when she lost control of her car and hit a pole, killing her best friend Lianna Salazar, 19, her cousin Andres Morfin, 20, and his best friend Daniel Antonio Trejo, 19.
She hit the traffic light on the island at Jadwin rather than the streetlight involved in Friday’s crash.
Duong was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison. She is currently housed at the Ratcliff House Reentry Center in Seattle.
The traffic light pole took about six months to be replaced after it was held temporarily by tethers.
The pole was hit again in January 2023 when a drunk driver slammed into it, damaging it again. The 29-year-old driver was heading south on the George Washington Way when he crashed into it.
The intersection is the focus of a $21 million project aimed at improving business traffic and making downtown safer for pedestrians and bicyclists.
The Downtown Loop Project will turn Jadwin Avenue and George Washington Way into one-way streets starting at that intersection. George Washington Way would be northbound only at that point.
This story was originally published May 8, 2026 at 9:56 AM.