Pedestrian killed on Hayford Road

AIRWAY HEIGHTS – Three people are dead in two unrelated crashes last Thursday and Friday, July 11 and 12, in Spokane County.

In Airway Heights, an elderly man is dead and a woman is hospitalized following a Thursday, July 11, after they were hit by a vehicle at the intersection of Hayford Road and Ninth Avenue.

The Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the decedent as Jose Hilario. The 64-year-old man died of blunt force trauma.

Airway Heights police have yet to release the name of a second victim, a 61-year-old woman, and the name of the driver, even though they are public record under state law.

According to an incident report, the Hilary and the second victim were transported to Sacred Heart Hospital, where Hilario was pronounced dead and the woman admitted into the intensive care unit.

Police said neither drugs nor alcohol were involved in the crash.

They have not released the cause of the crash, details of the vehicle or

information on the incident. And police have yet to say if charges are pending in the incident.

Anyone with information on the incident is asked to contact the Police Department.

In an unrelated crash on state Highway 27 near Rockford, two people died in a head-on crash at 8:17 p.m. Friday, July 13.

Rogan S. Murrell, 18, of Spokane and Jayneat S. Morgan, 17, of Usk, died at the scene near Milepost 71, the Washington State Patrol reported.

Murrell was driving southbound on the highway in a 2010 Ford Focus when he was hit head-on by a 2019 Jeep Renegade driven by Jesse J. Roullier, 33, of Spokane.

Roullier is charged with vehicular assault and vehicular homicide, the patrol said, noting he is believed to have been driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Morgan was a passenger in Murrell’s car, the patrol reported. A second passenger, Noah B. Laitinen, 18, of Spokane was injured and airlifted to Sacred Heart.

A third vehicle, a 2023 Ford F150 pickup, struck debris from the crash and punctured a tire, the patrol said. The driver, Peter A. Taylor, 51, of Seminole, Fla., was not injured.