A Washington state couple who died when a large concrete slab fell from a highway overpass onto their pickup truck were youth ministers in their 20s and parents to a 8-month-old baby. Josh and Vanessa Ellis and their baby, Hudson, died when a concrete barrier fell onto the cab of their truck as they drove underneath an overpass in Bonney Lake, Wash., says their pastor, James Ludlow of EastPointe Foursquare Church. He described the Ellis family as "great people" who were loved by kids in the church's congregation.
Construction crews were installing a sidewalk on the state Route 410 overpass in Bonney Lake when a chunk of concrete weighing thousands of pounds fell to the roadway below around 10:30am yesterday. It was not immediately known what caused the concrete structure to fall. City spokesman Woody Edvalson said the material that fell was part of the original span, which was built in 1992 and has a sufficiency rating of 95.3 out of 100. Bonney Lake is about 30 miles southeast of Seattle. (More Washington state stories.)