Deceased driver in Jan. 27 crash identified

BREMERTON — A man who died Jan. 27 in a vehicle collision on Highway 3 near milepost 29 has been identified by Washington State Patrol.

Robert D. Heath, 63, of Bremerton was declared dead at the scene. His 1991 Honda Civic two-door and a 2011 Lincoln MKZ four-door collided at about 10:13 a.m. on Highway 3, one mile south of Bremerton. The cause is under investigation and charges are pending, the state patrol reported.

The driver of the Lincoln was in a private driveway waiting to turn onto the northbound lane on Highway 3. Heath was driving south on Highway 3; the driver of the Lincoln pulled out in front of him and the cars collided.

The driver of the Lincoln refused aid and was taken to an area hospital in a private vehicle, state patrol reported. She is not being identified here because she has not been charged.

It was at least the third fatal crash in Kitsap County since the beginning of the year, and the fifth since December.

Noe Hernandez-Larios, 41, of Tacoma was killed and two Bremerton residents in another vehicle were injured in a two-car collision at 11:59 p.m. Jan. 17 on Highway 16.

Stephen Anthony DeMark, 74, of Tacoma, died when his truck careened off a guardrail and struck a tree Jan. 2 on the 5100 block of Burley Olalla Road in South Kitsap.

Stephen H. Kotts, 70, of Poulsbo was killed Dec. 21 when his Jeep and a delivery truck collided on Highway 305 on Bainbridge Island.

Vanessa M. Lopez, 20, of Bremerton died from injuries she sustained when her car went off the road and struck a tree Dec. 18 on Highway 3 just north of Allyn. Her 6-month-old daughter was a passenger in the car but was uninjured.

Elsewhere, on Interstate 90 just west of Snoqualmie Pass, Dashiell Mortell, 19, of Bainbridge Island died Jan. 7 when the Ford Explorer in which he was a passenger collided with the vehicle in front of it and then rolled over; six other vehicles then collided with it. Mortell was a sophomore at Washington State University and was on his way back to college when the collision occurred.

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