Highway Chaos, Then A Knife – Hero Soldiers Pounce

Emergency responders at overturned car crash scene — Photo: Gorodenkoff / Shutterstock

On a crowded stretch of southbound I‑5 near DuPont, a rollover crash turned into a knife attack on two girls until two soldiers stopped and disarmed the assailant—an event whose core facts are clear, and whose swift intervention likely prevented a homicide.

At a Glance

The crash occurred on southbound I‑5 near DuPont around mid‑morning; a woman then attacked two girls with a knife, authorities said.
A 9‑year‑old sustained multiple broken bones and a stab wound; a 15‑year‑old was also hospitalized but not with life‑threatening injuries.
Two soldiers stopped, intervened, and got the knife away from the suspect, according to consistent witness and agency accounts.
Investigators pursued DUI, vehicular assault, first‑degree assault—and later, attempted murder—against a 35‑year‑old suspect identified as Janieka Ellington.

What happened on I‑5 near DuPont

Multiple local outlets, citing Washington State Patrol (WSP), reported that a southbound SUV crashed near DuPont around 9 a.m., coming to rest after striking a barrier and a semi—accounts differ slightly on sequence but align on the violent rollover and immediate aftermath. What happened next was more chilling. Investigators say the SUV’s driver, a 35‑year‑old Steilacoom woman, attacked two girls who had been in the vehicle; the younger, 9, suffered multiple broken bones and at least one stab wound, while the older, 15, was treated at a hospital without life‑threatening trauma.

Soldiers traveling the same corridor stopped and intervened. Independent reports converge on their essential actions: they confronted the assailant, disarmed her, and held her until troopers arrived. The precise mechanics—whether the soldiers tackled her, pried the knife away, or pinned her—vary in wording across accounts, but the common core is decisive intervention that stopped the attack.

The suspect, the charges, and the evolving case posture

Initial reports identified the suspect as a 35‑year‑old woman from Steilacoom; subsequent coverage named her as Janieka Ellington. Early briefings outlined an investigative path pointing to DUI, vehicular assault, and first‑degree assault; in later updates, prosecutors added attempted murder—an escalation that aligns with investigators’ belief that Ellington intentionally crashed before attacking the girls. KOMO’s later report specifically cited the intentionality theory and the attempted‑murder count tied to Ellington, 35, after the event near Joint Base Lewis‑McChord (JBLM).

As is routine in serious‑injury collisions involving suspected impairment or mental health concerns, the suspect was transported to a hospital for evaluation before booking. Local outlets reported that sequence, followed by booking into the Pierce County Jail on the contemplated charges or their later, formalized equivalents. Charge language will sharpen as prosecutors file and a court calendar takes shape; the investigative posture, however, was consistent across WSP‑linked reporting from the start.

The girls’ injuries and the soldiers’ intervention

Injury descriptions were remarkably consistent for the 9‑year‑old: multiple broken bones and a stab wound, with hospital treatment following promptly. The 15‑year‑old, also hospitalized, was reported without life‑threatening injuries in early coverage. A JBLM‑area medic and other bystanders described a chaotic scene made tractable by the soldiers’ actions—removing the weapon from play and restraining the suspect until troopers took custody. In the compressed window between a crash and the arrival of first responders, that kind of bystander intervention often determines whether a stab wound remains survivable; here, the accounts strongly suggest it did.

Public attention naturally gravitates to the soldiers because their role is legible and heroic: they bridged the dangerous minutes before law enforcement arrived. It is also operationally significant. The removal of a weapon and immediate restraint change the triage profile for EMS, reduce the risk of additional victims, and stabilize the scene for investigating troopers. That convergence of duty and timing is why transportation corridors near major installations like JBLM often see rapid bystander response from trained service members.

How investigators assemble the record in Washington

Events like this move faster than paperwork, but Washington’s system is built to catch up. When a crash involves injuries, a law enforcement officer must file a collision report—an affidavit‑style document that the officer signs under penalty of perjury—submitted to the Washington State Patrol’s Collision Records Section. Those reports can be supplemented as more facts are verified, which is why early public descriptions often match later filings on the broad strokes while refining mechanics and charge theory over time.

For serious felonies arising from a traffic event—vehicular assault, first‑degree assault, attempted murder—investigators typically produce a probable‑cause narrative, draw on scene documentation, witness statements, and, when applicable, impairment testing. In Washington case law and practice, troopers can seek search warrants to obtain blood samples in suspected DUI or vehicular assault cases, with affidavits memorializing their observations and bases for probable cause; the charging ladder then reflects the best‑supported theory as prosecutors file.

Reconciling small discrepancies without losing the plot

Local outlets differed on the micro‑sequence of the initial impact—barrier first, then semi; rollover, then secondary contact—but they did not diverge on what matters for criminal exposure: a serious crash followed by a knife attack on two girls. Likewise, phrasing about the soldiers’ actions varies—“tackled,” “removed the knife,” “held her down”—yet all point to a single reality: intervention halted an active stabbing and contained the assailant until WSP took custody.

Charge language also evolved with the facts. Early reporting often lists investigative suspicions—DUI, vehicular assault—because those are the immediate statutory hooks troopers work under. As witness statements, physical evidence, and injury assessments cohere, prosecutors refine counts. Here, subsequent identification of Ellington and the addition of attempted murder fit the consistent narrative that the crash and attack were linked acts, not unrelated events separated by chance.

Why this case resonates—and what it teaches

This incident crystallizes how quickly a roadway crash can become a violent crime scene, and how decisive bystander intervention—especially by trained soldiers—can interrupt a lethal trajectory. It also illustrates the cadence of credible early reporting in Washington: WSP‑anchored briefings establish the spine of the event; hospitals confirm injury patterns; prosecutors ultimately settle the charge set. When those elements align, as they do here, the public can have high confidence in the core account even as the exact impact sequence or phrasing of restraint gets tuned in official paperwork.