WA State Patrol makes arrest in highway death

VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) — The Washington State Patrol has arrested a man believed to have been driving a convertible from which a passenger fell to his death in southwest Washington.

The Columbian reports (http://bit.ly/oGE99a) that 29-year-old Russell H. Amon of Vancouver was booked Monday into the Clark County Jail for investigation of one count of felony hit and run driving.

Trooper Ryan Tanner said Saturday that the champagne-colored Mercedes convertible did not stop after the passenger fell from the back onto State Highway 14 east of Washougal.

The Clark County medical examiner’s office says 34-year-old Jose Gonzalez-Ramirez died of blunt force trauma to the head in a death that has been ruled accidental.

Witness Dee-Anna Janku of Camas tells KATU-TV that she and her husband were several cars behind the Mercedes when she saw a man standing in the back of the top-down convertible, goofing off, when the driver accelerated to pass another vehicle. The passenger fell out, landing on his head.

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Information from: The Columbian, http://www.columbian.com