Sheriff: Passenger killed as driver flees in Grant County police chase

A passenger died in a crash that stemmed from a chase with deputies Tuesday, the Grant County Sheriff’s Office said.

Around 2 a.m., someone reported a suspicious person in the Swanson’s Addition area of Ephrata, Washington, the sheriff’s office said.

A responding Ephrata police officer noticed someone standing outside a vehicle on the 1200 block of Sunset Street who then ran to get into a waiting vehicle that sped off toward Dodson Road, deputies said.

The officer started chasing the vehicle, but it rolled as it was going south on Dodson. The officer pulled up and saw the driver running away, with a woman lying outside the vehicle seriously injured, apparently from the crash, the sheriff’s office said.

First responders tried to save the woman, but she died. She has been identified as Danielle C. Shockey, 32, a Yakima County resident who was originally from Ephrata.

Deputies initially said two men had been detained for questioning over the incident, but they announced later Tuesday that 44-year-old Augustine J. Avalos of Zillah, Washington, had been arrested on suspicion of vehicular homicide.

His other passenger, a 25-year-old male, was not injured.