State ferry workers could have prevented deadly DUI crash in Washington, lawsuit says

State ferry workers could have prevented a fatal DUI crash on a Washington highway that occurred after a drunk passenger left their boat, a lawsuit says.

On the afternoon of Dec. 18, 2021, moments after Danielle Cruz left the ferry in her vehicle, she crossed the center line of a highway on Whidbey Island and crashed into a car carrying Sharon Gamble and Kenneth Weikle, according to the lawsuit and a report from KIRO7.

Gamble, 77, was pronounced dead at the scene, and Weikle, 78, who was severely injured, died two weeks later after his children made the decision to take him off life support, Neil Lindquist, an attorney representing Weikle’s family told McClatchy News. Gamble and Weikle were long-term romantic partners, he said.

“Not only was the accident preventable, but it put his children into a position where they had to make the life-ending decision during the holidays,” he said.

The lawsuit, filed Nov. 14 in Snohomish County Superior Court, says that ferry staff should have acted to prevent Cruz from driving away.

A spokeswoman for Washington State Ferries said that the agency does not comment on pending litigating.

The day of the crash

On the day of the fatal crash, witnesses reported seeing a woman, later identified as Cruz, driving erratically before entering a parking lane on a Washington state ferry and rear-ending the car in front of hers, according to the lawsuit.

Washington State Ferry employees saw the crash, but continued directing passengers onto the ferry, the lawsuit says.

Other passengers reported Cruz’s erratic driving to ferry crew members. An employee made a radio call to request a Washington state patrol officer, but when they were told none were available to respond, the employee made no effort to contact local law enforcement and instead told the passenger to try calling 911, the lawsuit says.

When the ferry arrived at its destination in Clinton, about 30 miles north of Seattle, employees found Cruz, “unconscious in the driver’s seat of her vehicle, slumped over her steering wheel and unaware of the fact that she was the only remaining passenger on the Vessel,” the lawsuit says.

Crew members knocked on her windows and doors in an attempt to wake her up, and when they couldn’t, they called extra staff members to help them rouse her, the complaint says.

When she woke up, they allowed her to drive off the boat.

A crew member later said in a verbal statement that she told a co-worker, “this is giving me a pit in my stomach. Something is going to happen,” the lawsuit says.

“Moments after leaving the ferry terminal,” Cruz crossed into oncoming traffic and crashed into the car carrying Gamble and Weikle, resulting in a “fiery explosion,” the lawsuit says.

The investigation

When Weikle’s daughter, who lives on the East Coast, learned about the crash, she had a feeling that there was more to it than just a drunk driver, Lindquist said.

She began to scour social media to find witnesses and learn more about what happened, Lindquist said. She contacted passengers who were on the ferry the day of the crash and saw Cruz driving. This led her her family members to reach out to law enforcement to start a full investigation, the attorney said.

“The family members did a remarkable job in laying the groundwork for an investigation,” he said.

Investigators found, not only that ferry employees did not take the necessary steps to help prevent the fatal crash, but also that the Washington Department of Transportation “intentionally destroyed” surveillance footage from the ferry from that day, the lawsuit says.

Cruz has been charged with two counts of vehicular homicide, according to the Everett Herald.

Seeking justice

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the children of Gamble and Weikle, seeks damages of an amount yet to be determined, Lindquist said.

In addition to the damages, Lindquist says the victims’ family members also hope to hold those responsible to account.

“It’s about accountability,” he said, “and making sure that preventable accidents like this don’t happen again.”

This story was originally published November 21, 2022 at 6:19 PM with the headline "State ferry workers could have prevented deadly DUI crash in Washington, lawsuit says."