MARYSVILLE — A Marysville man is accused of a hit-and-run crash last year that left a teacher in critical care.
The teacher was struck by a Dodge Journey while jogging the morning of Dec. 22 along 83rd Avenue NE. She was thrown into a ditch from the impact.
“She sat up and looked up the road and saw the car pull over and stop but no one got out and it drove off,” according to public records.
The teacher, 53, suffered broken bones and organ damage in addition to cuts and bruises, public records show. At the hospital, she had to use a medical device designed to prevent her lungs from collapsing.
For months, Marysville police did not release information about the crash while their investigation was ongoing. They wrapped up their reports last week. The case was forwarded to Snohomish County prosecutors for review as a potential injury hit-and-run, a felony under state law.
The Herald obtained the police reports through a public records request. The newspaper is not naming the accused driver, 25, as he has not been charged with a crime in the crash. He’s been charged with a hit-and-run before, records show.
In this case, the police department at first didn’t know what kind of car was involved. They had only a vague description.
A Marysville police officer found the vehicle’s passenger side mirror and a windshield wiper blade at the scene. Investigators searched town for any car missing a side mirror. They used the serial number from the recovered mirror to confer with area dealerships and figure out what kind of vehicle it came from, a Dodge Journey. They made a list of all the Dodge Journeys registered in Marysville. One by one, the cars were ruled out.
In early February, the police department got an anonymous phone call giving the name of the Marysville man. The caller had information about the crash — including the detail of the missing mirror — that hadn’t been provided to the media or otherwise made public, records show.
The man reportedly had ordered a new mirror online and done the repairs himself.
Police believe he did it that way to avoid detection.
The suspect’s driving has landed him in trouble before, court records show.
A case from 2008, involving driving without a license, was dismissed. The year before, he was charged with hit-and-run and found guilty of reckless driving. Between 2009 and 2010, he underwent treatment for alcohol abuse under a court order.
After the tip came in February, police found the Dodge in Marysville and impounded it as potential evidence.
The Dodge’s front bumper was damaged, there was a dent in the hood, and the windshield was cracked. The material that had been used to mount the passenger side mirror was a different hue of gray from the material on the driver side mirror, police wrote.
In an interview earlier this year, the man reportedly told investigators that he’d kept the car in Lake Stevens until he could fix the mirror.
The man’s driver’s license lists an address in Arlington, but the reports say he has been living in Marysville, about a third of a mile from the crash scene.
Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com.
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