Bail set at $50K for Toledo man charged with felony DUI after passenger injured in Chehalis crash

Emily Fitzgerald, The Chronicle, Centralia, Wash.
·2 min read

Jun. 17—Bail is set at $50,000 for a Toledo man charged with a felony DUI after he crashed a vehicle on Interstate 5 in Chehalis on Saturday, injuring a passenger.

"The facts of this case are enough to warrant significant bail," Lewis County Superior Court Judge James Lawler said of his bail decision on Monday, June 17.

Forrest C. Swanson, 27, was arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail at about 11:45 p.m. on Saturday, June 15, after a trooper with the Washington State Patrol responded to a vehicle that crashed into a guardrail at milepost 76 on northbound I-5, according to court documents and jail records.

Swanson was reportedly entering the northbound lanes of I-5 from the 13th Street on-ramp in a 2005 Dodge Ram at about 6:30 p.m. when the crash occurred. According to the state patrol, Swanson failed to merge safely and lost control of the vehicle, which came to rest in the median.

There were two passengers in the vehicle: Marcus A. Cadwell, 27, of Chehalis, and Sierra K. Strom, 22, of Vader.

Strom was transported to Providence Centralia Hospital. Swanson and Cadwell were not injured.

The Dodge Ram was totaled.

Witnesses told dispatch that the driver, who was later identified as Swanson, "smelled like alcohol and was stumbling around" and "had beer bottles in his jacket and he was asking others to 'hide it for me,'" according to court documents.

Another witness reported a man later identified as Swanson was driving and "the chick slid over at one point into the driver's seat," according to court documents.

When questioned, Swanson denied driving the Ram and said "his wife was pulling off 13th Street and a semi-truck cut her off," according to court documents.

Strom also told a trooper that she had been driving and was cut off by a semi-truck, according to court documents. When told that a witness had seen Swanson in the driver's seat and that she could be charged with making a false statement to law enforcement if investigators determined she was lying, Strom allegedly "looked down and admitted Swanson was the driver," according to court documents, which indicate Cadwell additionally said Swanson was the driver.

Swanson reportedly continued to insist he was not the driver, according to court documents.

He was arrested after he failed field sobriety tests and gave breath samples that indicated his blood alcohol content was between .17 and .18. The legal limit to drive in Washington state is .08.

Results of a blood test were still pending as of Monday afternoon, according to court documents.

Swanson was charged Monday, June 17, with one count each of felony DUI and driving without an ignition interlock.

Arraignment is scheduled for Thursday, June 20.

Swanson's conditions of release include provisions prohibiting him from consuming any alcohol until his case is resolved.