Woman Killed in Wild Grant County Chase Identified, Driver in Jail

A 32-year-old Yakima woman has been identified as the person killed in a pursuit crash in Grant County early Tuesday morning.

Sheriff Tom Jones released the information following a pursuit by Deputies and Ephrata Police.

 VIDEO from Grant County Deputy further down in story.

Around 2AM near the Swanson Addition in Ephrata, an officer on patrol observed some suspicious persons, one of them standing near a vehicle. They then ran to a waiting car, jumped in inside and sped off down Dodson Road.  After a short high speed chase, with the patrol car's lights running, the driver lost control near Road 12.8 NW and rolled into a field. The speed with which the suspect vehicle sped off gave them a large lead over the officer before he could catch up.

As the officer approached a man was seen running from the crash into a row of trees. At the scene, officers found Danielle C. Shockey suffering from significant injuries. Despite EMS CPR and other lifesaving measures, she died at the scene. A second passenger 25-year-old Bradley P. Santoyo of Grandview was not injured. Shockey is from Yakima, formerly of Ephrata.

Below are some other images of what excessive speed can result in.

The driver was eventually located, and now 44-year-old Augustine J. Avalos of Zillah is in the Grant County jail facing possible Vehicular Homicide charges. No word if any other charges pending from the incident.  Deputy Kyle Foreman of the Grant County Sheriff's office is seen in this video update about the incident.