PORT TOWNSEND — State Patrol investigators are waiting to question Jefferson Healthcare hospital commissioner Charles E. “Chuck” Russell on why he crossed the centerline of state Highway 104 in a collision that killed a Bainbridge Island man Wednesday.
Russell was in stable and satisfactory condition Saturday at Harborview Medical Center, where he was airlifted after the incident that killed Robert F. Dawson, 88, and injured two other people.
“We believe that it’s not impairment,” said Trooper Russ Winger, State Patrol spokesman, on Saturday, “but the medical part we don’t know.”
Russell’s 2004 Honda Pilot crashed head-on into a Dodge Ram pickup truck driven by Pamela J. Thresher, 53, of Suquamish, whose was discharged Friday from Harrison Medical Center in Bremerton.
Robert Dawson was a passenger in the pickup, as was Brett F. Dawson, 54, of Silverdale.
Brett Dawson also was airlifted to Harborview, which listed him in stable and satisfactory condition Saturday.
According to the State Patrol, Russell was traveling west on the highway at 2:15 p.m. Wednesday when he swerved into the path of the eastbound pickup at Milepost 7.9.
The State Patrol said he had been driving erratically, moving in and out of lanes and onto the side of the road.
He is serving his 18th year on the hospital commission, running for re-election against former Port Townsend Mayor Kees Kolff in the Nov. 3 general election.
Kolff has suspended his campaign “to wait for further information,” he said Thursday.
The wreck blocked the highway for about two hours. Both vehicles were destroyed.
