Ephrata hit and run injures five, including three kids

The driver who caused a three-car pileup near Ephrata Saturday fled the scene, leaving five injured people behind.

The Washington State Patrol said the wreck occurred about one and a half miles west of Ephrata on Highway 28 shortly before 4:30 p.m.

The state patrol said the driver who caused the accident was attempting to pass another vehicle but clipped it, causing it to spin into an oncoming vehicle. The driver fled in a 1994 Honda Civic, which the state patrol later found.

The wreck injured the drivers of both other cars as well as a teen, a toddler and an infant.

Arnoldo Cornelio, 22, of Quincy, was the driver of the car being passed. He and two juveniles, identified as a girl, 3, and a boy, 1, were taken to Samaritan Healthcare in Moses Lake.

The driver of the oncoming vehicle, Sandra M. Gierke, 39, of Moses Lake, was taken to Samaritan along with her passenger, a girl, 13.

All of the victims were using seatbelts and child restraints. Their conditions were not available.

The wreck is under investigation.

This story was originally published August 21, 2016 at 9:16 AM with the headline "Ephrata hit and run injures five, including three kids."