A Portland man faces assault charges after, police say, he spotted his estranged wife driving with another man and intentionally crashed into them.
Washington State Patrol said the woman was driving with their two young children. No injuries were reported.
Kiet T. Nguyen, 42, made his first court appearance Friday morning on four counts of first-degree assault, and during the hearing, Judge Robert Lewis set his bail at $1 million.
The incident was reported just after 4 p.m. Thursday when a state trooper was sent to a two-vehicle crash on southbound Interstate 5 north of state Highway 503.
The trooper spoke with a Ridgefield police officer and another trooper on the scene and learned that Nguyen had intentionally used his Toyota Camry to ram into a Toyota Rav4, driven by his wife, Washington State Patrol spokesman Trooper Will Finn said.
Nguyen later told investigators that he saw his wife’s vehicle on the highway and slowed down. He then saw his wife, with whom he is getting a divorce, in the car with another guy, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in the case.
He told police he became jealous and angry and “swerved his vehicle intentionally” into them, the affidavit states. The crash forced the Rav4 into another vehicle and the two victim vehicles went off the road, according to the affidavit.
Inside the Rav4 was Nguyen’s wife, 39-year-old Huong Vo and Kenneth Le, 46, was in the front passenger seat, the affidavit states.
Vo and Nguyen’s children, ages 6 and 3, were in the backseat of the Rav4, Finn said. No one was injured in the crash, Finn said.
Nguyen told investigators that “his intent was trying to kill his wife, the other guy (Kenneth Le) and himself all at once,” according to the affidavit.
When asked if he knew his kids were in the car, Nguyen answered he believed so, but did not know for sure until after the crash when Vo told him, according to the court document.
Nguyen is scheduled to be arraigned on the charges on Monday.
