Details are still emerging about the incident, but it appears to have been the result of the car drifting off the road and into a Jersey barrier and hitting a steel pole. Craig Sailor of the Tacoma News Tribune reports State Patrol spokesman Trooper Nick King saying:
"All of a sudden it started to drift very casually onto the left shoulder, [until it hit the Jersey barrier, and] ... vaulted the vehicle head-on into the sign post ..."
At present, he incident is still under investigation, but troopers believe Thomas fell asleep at the wheel, and report there were no signs of impairment.