Driver killed, deputy and prisoner injured in head-on crash near Monroe

A fiery head-on collision involving a pickup and a sheriff's car on Highway 2 near Monroe early today left one person dead and sent a sheriff's deputy and a prisoner he was transporting to area hospitals, State Patrol troopers reported.

"The driver of the pickup truck is deceased, but we're not sure yet whether the person is a he or a she," Washington State Trooper Keith Leary said today. "When the first trooper arrived on the scene the truck was fully engulfed in flames."

The crash occurred shortly after 4 a.m. on a rural stretch of the highway between Monroe and Everett, near milepost 10 and Roosevelt Road, Leary said.

A Ford pickup heading east slammed head-on into a police cruiser driven by Snohomish County sheriff's deputy James Headrick, who was heading west to Everett, Leary said. Headrick was taking to jail a domestic-violence suspect, who was sitting in the back of his patrol car, Leary said.

Medics airlifted Headrick, 35, a Snohomish County deputy for three years, to Harborview Medical Center.

"He is now in stable condition, according to Sheriff [John] Lovick, who is with him at the hospital," Leary said about 7:30 a.m.

The domestic-violence suspect, a man, was taken to an Everett hospital and also is in stable condition, Leary said.

The body of the pickup driver, who was pronounced dead at the scene, remained at the crash site this morning while detectives investigated, Leary said.

Troopers closed down about a five-mile stretch of the highway and were diverting rush-hour traffic to alternate routes this morning, Leary said. The highway was reopened at about 10:30 a.m.

Lewis Kamb: 206-464-2341 or lkamb@seattletimes.com