Man killed, two arrested in early morning Interstate 5 vehicle crash in Ferndale

A Bellingham man was arrested after a crash that killed a Blaine man and injured at least three others early Friday on Interstate 5 in Ferndale.

Authorities suspect drugs or alcohol were involved when a 2005 Pontiac GTO driven by Collin Cayo, 20, hit a barrier and spun out as he was entering the freeway.

Evan Hayes was severely injured and later died when the 2006 Yamaha FJR1300 motorcycle he was riding hit Cayo’s car, the Washington State Patrol said in a report.

Cayo was booked into the Whatcom County Jail on Friday, where he was being held without bail on suspicion of vehicular assault. Washington State Patrol Trooper Kelsey Harding told The Bellingham Herald in a phone interview that those charges would be changed to vehicular homicide.

Hayes was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where he died.

The crash and investigation closed southbound I-5 through Ferndale from about 2:40 a.m. to 9 a.m., the Washington State Department of Transportation tweeted. It caused a lengthy backup during the morning commute.

A Ferndale man who was listed as a passenger in Cayo’s car, Eric Damain Chavez-Garfias, was also arrested Friday by Whatcom County sheriff’s deputies on an outstanding warrant and other charges not related to Friday’s incident, Harding said.

Chavez-Garfias, 20, was being held without bail on at least one of the charges, according to the jail’s online booking records.

A third passenger in Cayo’s car, 18-year-old Kyndra N. Risler of Ferndale, was injured.

Cayo, Chavez-Garfias and Risler were taken to St. Joseph Medical Center for treatment, where they were released Friday in stable condition, a hospital spokeswoman told The Herald.

A fourth passenger in Cayo’s car fled before officers or firefighters arrived, Kelsey told The Herald. No information about that person was immediately available.