State troopers ID passenger killed in Kitsap County car crash as Spanaway man

A 43-year-old man who was killed in a car crash Monday morning on state Route 16 in Kitsap County was from Spanaway, according to the Washington State Patrol.

David J. Ellis was a passenger in a Ford van that was traveling westbound on the highway when it went off the roadway south of Port Orchard and struck a tree, according to a WSP news release. Ellis was declared dead at the scene. Troopers said he wasn’t wearing a seat belt.

The driver of the vehicle, a 53-year-old Spanaway man, was injured and transported to Tacoma General Hospital.

Trooper Katherine Weatherwax wrote on Twitter that the driver was taken into custody on suspicion of driving under the influence. According to the news release, the cause of the crash is still under investigation.

Weatherwax said state Route 16 was closed in both directions while crews removed the crashed van, which was totaled.

Peter Talbot

The News Tribune

Peter Talbot is a criminal justice reporter for The News Tribune. He started with the newspaper in 2021. Before that, he earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism at Indiana University. In college, he worked as an intern at NPR in Washington, D.C. He also interned for the Oregonian and the Tampa Bay Times. Support my work with a digital subscription