 |
| Alea Price |
The State Patrol identified the victim as 24-year-old Alea Price of Seattle.
This young woman was a barista from Capitol Perks; a coffee house in our employer's back parking lot. Capital Perks is running a fund raiser on Thursday, August 29 at their Tumwater location to help the young woman’s mother with funeral expenses. If you are in the area, please stop by, order a coffee, or simply make a donation to help Alea's mother.
Price called 911 several times - and apparently her boyfriend, as well - to report that she was stopped in one of the left lanes on I-405 southbound in Bellevue, Washington State Patrol Trooper Chris Webb said.
Both a trooper and the boyfriend were on their way at about 4:30 a.m. when a semi struck the woman's car and pushed it off the left shoulder. Price was alive when medics arrived, but unfortunately died before making it to the hospital.
"We had a trooper en route to the scene and then we got calls the vehicle had been struck," Webb said.
Price's boyfriend arrived in the aftermath of the crash. Her family in West Seattle was too emotional to speak, but said Price is leaving behind a twin sister.
 |
| Alea Price's car after it was struck by a semi truck. |
Troopers said she followed the advice most people hear about what to do after a collision - stay in your car. In this case, though, because her car was in the middle of a busy freeway, investigators said it might have been better to either move the car, or wait somewhere off the road.
Price reported to dispatchers that she believed her car was disabled, Webb said. "We assume she at least had her lights on, although there is front damage to the vehicle, which maybe caused her headlights to be off," Webb added.
