SPOKANE COUNTY -- A speeding BMW crashed into a pair of large pine trees early Sunday morning, killing the three male occupants.
Those men have been identified as 21-year-old Anthony Archuleta, 25-year-old Spencer Fry, and 21-year-old Joseph Adams. All three are from Spokane.
Sheriff’s traffic investigators said the 1991 BMW 325 was traveling westbound at or above 90 mph in the posted 25 mph zone when it failed to negotiate a right curve at 44th and Eastern.
The car left the roadway and sheared off a 15-inch pine tree before hitting a second tree that was about 30 inches thick. The crash pushed the entire front of the car into its interior and it appeared all three men died upon impact.
A passerby discovered the crash and alerted the sheriff’s office about 5:18 a.m. The car was cold when deputies arrived and the time of the collision is unknown. However, a neighbor in the area reported hearing a car speeding west on 44th sometime after 11:30 p.m. Saturday.
A mostly-empty bottle of whiskey was found inside the crumpled car, as was a shotgun that had been smashed in half by the impact. Two of the occupants were tentatively identified as 21-year-old Spokane residents, but the third was carrying no identification.
The road was closed for about seven hours Sunday while investigators worked the scene. It took Spokane County District 8 firefighters nearly an hour and a half to cut apart the wreckage and remove the three victims.
