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ROCKFORD – Two teenagers who went to Lewis and Clark High School were killed in a head-on collision Saturday evening with a driver suspected of being under the influence of drugs or alcohol on state Route 27.
Two other people were injured in the collision, according to a Washington State Patrol news release.
Rogan Murrell, 18, of Spokane, and 17-year-old Jayneat Morgan, from Usk, died at the scene. A passenger in Murrell’s vehicle, 18-year-old Noah Laitinen of Spokane, was injured and transported to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center.
Jesse Roullier, 33, from Spokane, was alleged to be driving under the influence, according to the state patrol. He was injured, but not hospitalized, and faces charges of vehicular assault and vehicular homicide.
Murrell was a recent graduate of Lewis and Clark High School, where Laitinen also recently graduated, and Morgan was a student. Morgan was listed as part of the high school’s Tiger Drama Thespian Troupe 6356 and was set to graduate in 2025. Murrell was planning to attend Western Washington University to study computer science.
Roullier was driving north on state Route 27, 3 miles north of Rockford around 8 p.m. Saturday when he crossed into the southbound lane, striking Murrell’s 2010 Ford Focus head-on, according to the state patrol.
Both vehicles came to rest on the southbound side of the highway, Roullier’s Jeep Renegade blocking the road and Murrell’s car in a ditch. Both Murrell and passenger Morgan died at the scene.
A Ford F-150 operated by a 51-year-old struck debris from the collision and incurred a flat tire, but there was no other reportable damage.
