An Oak Harbor man was killed and two others seriously injured in a single-car rollover accident near Coupeville early Sunday morning.
Daniel Sander, a 23-year-old Navy member and father of two, was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, which took place just before 2 a.m. April 2, according to a Washington State Patrol report.
Andrew Murray, 21, was driving a Ford F150 south on Highway 20 when he left the roadway to the right near Madrona Way. The vehicle struck a power pole and rolled multiple times into a field, State Patrol reported.
Sander, a passenger in the truck, died at the scene. Murray and the other passenger, 22-year-old Timothy Chon, were both injured and transported to WhidbeyHealth Medical Center. The vehicle was totaled in the accident, and a section of the highway from Zylstra Road to Madrona Way was closed temporarily while emergency personnel responded to the incident.
The cause of the accident is under investigation. The State Patrol reported that drugs or alcohol may have been involved.
Sander was an aviation support equipment technician second class assigned to Fleet Readiness Center Northwest, Naval Air Station Whidbey Island spokesperson Michael Welding said. Many of Sander’s friends, family members and fellow Navy members took to Facebook to share their memories of Sander.
“The more I think of it, the lonelier I feel,” Sander’s wife, Maribel Martinez Sander, shared in a Facebook post, which the Whidbey News Group quotes from with her permission. “You were such an amazing daddy. The boys will know everything about you. Every single detail!”
The couple’s elder son, Dallas, is 3 years old, and their younger son, Theo, is 9 months old.
Timothy Sander, Daniel Sander’s father, shared in a message to the Whidbey News Group that his son was a devoted husband and father who loved golfing, hunting, fishing and camping. He said Daniel Sander graduated from Pendleton County High School in Kentucky in 2017 and joined the Navy shortly after. He was planning to reenlist soon and transfer to San Diego in the fall.
“Daniel was loved by everyone he met,” Timothy Sander said. “He had an infectious smile that lit up the room.”
