Driver dead after vehicle crashes down High Drive embankment

An SUV tumbled down an embankment below High Drive late Monday morning, killing the driver and prompting an investigation into what caused the crash on Spokane’s South Hill.

Battalion Chief Michael Bacon, of the Spokane Fire Department, said the SUV rolled about 300 feet down the hill before hitting five trees. When firefighters reached the vehicle the driver was deceased. The person had not been publicly identified as of Monday evening.

Bacon said firefighters secured the vehicle to ensure it didn’t continue rolling down the hill and put anyone below in danger. Portions of High Drive have a guard rail, but the vehicle went off the road just before the rail, near 33rd Avenue, he said.

Officer John O’Brien, a spokesman for the Spokane Police Department, said there was only one person in the vehicle, which was northbound before it left the road at about 11 a.m.

High Drive was closed for several hours between 29th and 37th avenues while traffic investigators were on scene. A crane was used to hoist the vehicle back onto the roadway.