A man is confirmed dead in what police describe as a high-speed accident in Freeland today.

According to state police, a red Acura was Southbound on Highway 525 and had just passed Cameron Road at about 4 p.m. when it attempted to pass another southbound vehicle. The red car struck the other, a Toyota 4Runner, causing both to lose control. Both cars came to rest in heavy brush along the south side of the highway.

“The guy in the red car was not wearing his seatbelt and ejected,” said Trooper Dave Martin of the Washington State Patrol.

He was transported by ambulance to a nearby field where he was waiting to be airlifted to an off-island hospital when he died of his injuries, Martin said. He has not yet been identified.

The driver of the second vehicle was not injured in the crash.

Trooper Mark Francis said the man in the Acura was reported by two people for “erratic” driving, the first of which came in just south of Oak Harbor. The vehicle was later spotted by an Island County Sheriff’s deputy just north of Freeland but he quickly lost sight of the car.

“By the time he turned around, the guy was gone,” Francis said.

The deputy made it to the top of the hill just north of town and saw the crash unfold in the distance, Francis said.

The accident occurred within a stone’s throw of South Whidbey Fire/EMS’s headquarters on Cameron Road.

“We actually heard it,” Deputy Chief Jason Laughren said.

Medical personal arrived on scene and found the driver of the Acura about 60 feet away from his vehicle. He was treated in an ambulance and then transported to the airlift site to await the helicopter.

Traffic was detoured around the crash site, which Laughren said could last several hours.