Update, 10:45 a.m.: The driver of the Nissan Sentra, who reportedly jumped from a bridge into the Yakima River following an overnight crash on State Route 22, has not been located, said the Washington State Patrol.
The driver was a 31-year-old man from Zillah, said Detective Sgt. Mike Russell, a spokesman for the Yakima County Sheriff’s Office.
Search and rescue crews from the sheriff’s office assisted the state patrol with the search.
TOPPENISH, Wash. – Search and rescue crews are searching for a man who jumped off the Yakima River bridge over State Route 22 after a collision Friday morning, the Washington State Patrol reports.
The crash happened a few minutes after midnight when a 1993 Nissan Sentra heading west on SR 22 crossed the centerline and collided with an eastbound tractor trailer, according to a news release from the patrol.
Troopers said the Sentra’s driver got out of the now totaled car and jumped from the bridge into the Yakima River. The search and rescue team from the Yakima County Sheriff’s Office was still searching for that driver Friday morning.
The driver of the tractor trailer, identified as Exequiel Ramirez, 46, of Las Vegas, was not injured in the crash, according to the patrol.
SR 22 was closed in both directions over the bridge for several hours after the crash but it reopened around 3:30 a.m., according to the state Department of Transportation.
This story will be updated
