Deputy arrested after crash Detectives investigating whether medical issue may have caused wreck

A King County deputy sheriff was arrested Friday morning after he crashed his cruiser into the rear of another car.

The crash occurred just before 7 a.m. near the intersection of Northeast 132nd Street and Bothell-Everett Highway, sheriff’s office spokeswoman Sgt. Cindi West said in a statement.

Mill Creek officers responding to the crash noted the deputy appeared to be impaired, West said, and a State Patrol drug recognition expert responded to the scene.

A blood sample was taken from the 47-year-old deputy, who was not seriously injured in the wreck. Investigators determined alcohol was likely not a factor in the crash.

The other driver suffered minor injuries and was taken to a hospital for precautionary observation. The deputy was arrested and later released; investigators hope to determine whether a medical issue factored into the crash.

Mill Creek Police will conduct the criminal investigation, while the sheriff’s office will conduct a separate internal investigation into the matter.

“We will wait for the blood results to determine the cause of the impairment and then complete the internal investigation,” Sheriff John Urquhart said in a statement.

The deputy, a 19 year veteran currently assigned to the City of Shoreline, has been placed on administrative leave which is standard procedure while an investigation is ongoing.

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Seattlepi.com reporter Levi Pulkkinen can be reached at 206-448-8348 or levipulkkinen@seattlepi.com. Follow Levi on Twitter at twitter.com/levipulk.