By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – A 42-year-old woman walking in the slow lane on the freeway in Chehalis overnight escaped serious injury when a truck swerved and struck her with its passenger side mirror.
The U-Haul moving truck driven by a woman from Snohomish County and headed southbound just south of the Main Street overpass.
“The pedestrian was kind of thrown onto the gore point, between the exit and the freeway,” Trooper Will Finn said.
Troopers and aid called about 3:10 a.m. found Melonie M. Tevyaw’s injuries were fairly minor. What she was doing on the freeway is unclear.
“She told the trooper she was on her way to Olympia,” Finn said. “There was no disabled vehicle nearby, there was no reason she should have been on the freeway, certainly not in the lane.”
Finn said Tevya’s last known address is in Tacoma. She had no impairment from drugs or alcohol, but the investigating trooper said there was a some kind of mental issue involved, Finn said.
A sad consequence of the incident, Finn said, is the woman driving the truck was moving to Sacramento and had her cat with her in the cab of the vehicle.
When the mirror popped back, it shattered the window, the cat jumped out and was run over, he said. It didn’t survive.
Tevyaw was transported by ambulance to Providence Centralia Hospital where she was got some stitches above her eye, according to Finn.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
Tevyaw, the pedestrian, suffers from mental illness. she has been in and out of jail and institutions for over twenty years. she is not capable of taking care of herself and should be in a facility. the real crime is how we care for those with diseases like hers
It SHOULD be illegal to have your cat in a car unless you actually LOVE the animal and have it safely protected in either a carry-cage or strapped into a US Highway Safety Approved seat-belt for pets.
To drive around with your babies in a car while unsecured in a safety device is irresponsible pet/child ownership and should be prosecutable.
it is not illegal to have a cat in a car, you moron. i should sue you for being so stupid.
Sue over the death of her cat? I’m pretty sure she was breaking the law by having a cat on the loose in the cab of the truck. That was irresponsible and the death of the cat is 100% the owner’s fault.
Point taken, but which countries handle mental illness better than “clueless, savage” America (and which of those will you be moving to)?
This is the result of not caring for the mentally ill. We tell them, “Now, be sure to take your meds,” then throw them out on the streets– without even sufficient clinics to provide their meds! America has become as clueless and savage as the Victorians.
I guess we shouldn’t care when a human gets killed either since there are a shitload more in shelters who could use a good home.
Fail logic is fail.
I would sue if it was a protected bald-eagle or some kind of super-expensive exotic animal..but a cat?
Boo hoo! There’s a shitload more at the shelter than need good homes.
Go figure. Lewis County Zombies walking down the freeway caused probably the only thing that lady loved to die. Pets can be like family. I wouldn’t sue but instead, I would’ve beat her ass and kept driving.
Yeah, let’s clog the courts with more frivolous garbage! Sue over a cat!!! LMFAO
The laughs never stop in Lewis County.
That lady should sue over the death of her cat, seriously.