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Crash Injures 19-year Old And Kills Friend

October 31, 2005

Shawn H. Warness, 19, of Aberdeen received fatal injuries in an accident late Friday night in the Humptulips area.

Warness was riding in a 1997 Ford Ranger, which was being driven by his friend, Robert L. Vanness, also 19, of Hoquiam.

Sometime in between 10:30 and 11 p.m., the truck veered clear across the northbound lane on Forest Service Road 2204, also known as the Campbell Tree Grove Campground road, and drove directly into a ditch.

The truck came to a stop after it crashed into a large, old-growth cedar tree near the old Forest Service Headquarters.

Vanness' body was partially thrown out of the driver's side door and his condition was listed as serious by the doctors who saw him at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. He was airlifted from Grays Harbor Community Hospital in Aberdeen.

Warness, worked in home construction at Ocean Shores, and had been on leave from his work because he was recovering from an injury that he had sustained. He had cut part of one of his fingers off and was therefore on injured leave.

Several people drove up to the scene of the accident not long after it had happened. The passerbys were able to pull the driver, Vanness, out of the vehicle.

Unfortunately, a small fire that started in the engine compartment quickly grew. Te fire spread from the engine and then began to consume the cab which made it impossible for the rescuers to remove Warness, according to a Grays Harbor County Sheriff.

The cedar tree that the car crashed into continued to blaze long into the night, and even kept the emergency personnel on hand until 7 a.m. on Saturday. Eventually, the Department of Natural Resources was called to put the fire out.

Police are still investigating the cause of the accident but they have said that they suspect that alcohol could have played a role in the accident. Results of toxicology tests conducted on the two boys could take several weeks.