An 18-year-old Auburn woman was killed in a one-car crash early Saturday morning, Aug. 26 in downtown Kent on West Smith Street, just west of Fourth Avenue North.

Jackeline Ramirez died of a blunt force injury of head, according to the King County Medical Examiner’s Aug. 28 media report. The car crashed into a tree, according to an Aug. 29 email from Kent Police Assistant Chief Jarod Kasner.

Kent Police and Puget Sound Fire responded at about 1:03 a.m. after a nearby security guard called 911 to report the crash, according to an Aug. 28 Kent Police statement.

Officers and firefighters found the driver of the vehicle, an 18-year-old Tacoma man, sitting in the driver’s seat of the severely damaged vehicle, according to police. The Auburn woman was unconscious and had to be extricated from the passenger’s seat.

Firefighters began CPR on the woman and other lifesaving measures, but the woman died at the scene, according to police. Paramedics transported the driver to a local hospital with significant injuries, according to police.

The initial investigation suggests that intoxication may have been a factor, according to police. Neither occupant was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash. Police traffic unit officers continue to investigate what led up to the crash and are looking at a potential vehicular homicide arrest of the driver.

“Our investigation into this collision continues,” Kasner said.

Anyone with information about the crash is asked to call the Kent Police tip line at 253-856-5808, email KPDTipLine@kentwa.gov or call the non-emergency dispatch line at 253-852-2121. Refer to case No. 23-11310.