Bothell girl dies in car accident

A 16-year-old Bothell girl died Aug. 2 from injuries suffered in a car accident.

At about 6 a.m., passenger Nicole Lehtinen was struck in the chest from a portion of a chain-link fence that punctured the windshield of the car she was riding in. She died at Harborview Medical Center several hours later.

Lehtinen and a 17-year-old Bothell female driver were headed northbound on 61st Avenue Northeast in Kenmore in a 2000 Saturn four-door. In the 18200 block, the car drifted off the roadway and onto a sidewalk and side-swiped the fence.

The cause of the accident is still under investigation, and there was no evidence of drugs or alcohol as contributing factors, according to Sgt. John Urquhart, King County Sheriff’s Office spokesman.

The family has set up a memorial fund in Lehtinen’s name at Bank of America.