Car crashes off highway to Bridgeport

Local emergency responders rushed to the scene of a one-car rollover Monday morning after a federal security officer found a man crawling from his overturned car along the highway to Bridgeport.

James Hernandez, 21, of Spokane had been heading east on SR-174 when his 1997 Mercury Grand Marquis swerved to the right before Hernandez overcorrected, then drove off the highway to the left, a Washington State Patrol report concludes.

A highway sign was broken and lying on the ground, and the Grand Marquis was upside down in the ditch about 20 feet off the roadway.

The crash happened about 9:37, just before a Bureau of Reclamation security officer saw the overturned car, which was lying across the road at the intersection with the access road to the USBR's 500kV Switchyard facility.

Bureau emergency crews responded, as did Grand Coulee police, fire and ambulance.

The ambulance took Hernandez to Coulee Medical Center.

He was charged with driving with his wheels off the road and without insurance, the state patrol reported.