Investigation into deadly collision continues

Law enforcement officials continue to investigate a collision that took the life of a Washougal woman.

Anneice Fich, 66, was hit and killed by a vehicle as she crossed Northeast Third Avenue at Weir Street in Camas Dec. 23.

Camas Police Chief Mitch Lackey said yesterday that the CPD expects to receive a report from the Clark County Traffic Homicide Unit within the next month. This will help determine whether any criminal charges will be filed against the driver involved in the accident.

“We are still waiting for the results from the traffic collision experts from the county,” he said. “They are the experts and they do all of the scene diagramming.”

The incident occurred at 4:57 p.m. when a white Toyota Sequoia driven by Thetford B. Moore, of Washougal, traveling eastbound, collided with Fich. At the time of the accident, Fich was pushing her great-grandson, Eduardo “Lalo” Herrera-Berra, 2, in a stroller across Third Avenue.

When emergency crews arrived, they found Fich laying in the roadway being tended to by several bystanders. She was pronounced dead at the scene by Camas-Washougal Fire Department personnel.

An autopsy was conducted by the Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office Friday. The results have not been released, Lackey said.

Herrera-Berra was transported to PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver. He suffered broken ribs, a punctured lung and a fractured leg.

Moore, 60, was not injured. He cooperated with investigators, who were able to determine that neither drugs nor alcohol were factors in the collision.

Herrera-Berra was released from Legacy Emanuel Health Center in Portland Friday, Dec. 26, according to Nancy Peebles who is a grandmother of Kelsea Fich, the boy’s mother.

Peebles said Herrera-Berra is lucky to be alive.

“That stroller flipped in the air three or four times,” she said.

According to Peebles, an account has been set up at iQ Credit Union to help Kelsea Fich with medical costs and other expenses. She and her son lived with Anneice Fich.

“She’s lost. She’s totally devastated,” Peebles said. “She always took care of her grandmother and thought of her as a mother.”

A funeral for Anneice Fich will be held Tuesday, Jan. 6, at 2 p.m., at her grave site at Evergreen Memorial Cemetery, 1101 N.E. 112th Ave., Vancouver.

“Everybody just loved Annie so much,” Peebles said.

Northeast Third Avenue was closed in both directions for approximately four hours following the collision. It is a four-lane road with a center turn lane.

The intersection at Weir Street, near a McDonald’s restaurant, does not have traffic signals or a marked pedestrian crossing. There are traffic lights located nearby, east and west of the site of the collision.

According to Washington State law, “Vehicles shall stop at intersections to allow pedestrians and bicycles to cross the road within a marked or unmarked crosswalk.”