Accident on Reinig Road kills driver
Published 1:41 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008
SNOQUALMIE – A North Bend man is dead after his truck ran off Southeast Reinig Road in Snoqualmie the night of Wednesday, March 6.
Robert Helgeson, 51, was found dead in his 1987 Nissan truck about 8 a.m. Thursday, March 7, after a woman saw a car in a ditch near the 41700 block of Reinig Road. King County Sheriff’s Office investigators estimated that Helgeson may have driven off the road as early as 7 p.m. the previous evening.
Alcohol was not involved and the ground was not slick, but investigators believe speed may have been the main cause of the accident.
They believe Helgeson may have run off the road on the right hand shoulder, overcorrected to turn back onto the road, overcorrected again and ran off the right side. His truck went through about 80 feet of brush before hitting the bottom of the ditch.
The King County Medical Examiner’s Office said Helgeson died of chest injuries. He was reportedly not wearing a seat belt.
County investigators closed the road during their investigation. It opened back up about noon, March 7.
