EVERETT — On Jan. 23, Scotty Becktell walked from his south Everett home toward his graveyard shift at McDonald’s.
He never made it to his job that horrible night.
On Tuesday, nearly three months later, he finally returned home — not on his own two feet but in a motorized wheelchair, which he navigated up a newly installed ramp through a recently widened front door.
The Everett man’s walk to work ended in a trip to Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center. A dark SUV slammed into him while he was crossing the intersection at 128th Street and 8th Avenue W.
Becktell, 22, was in a crosswalk when he was hit. He’d left the mobile home park, where he lives, a few minutes earlier.
He remembers stepping off the sidewalk and waking up in the hospital.
Becktell suffered a spinal cord injury and isn’t expected to walk again. He also endured a concussion, broken wrist, broken ring finger and fractures to three other fingers. For now, he’s not supposed to lift anything heavier than a coffee cup as his hand and wrist mend.
Since the crash he has been going through physical and occupational therapy as he readjusts to his new life.
On the eve of his release from the hospital, Becktell was both excited and worried.
“I’m a little bit nervous,” he said. “It’s going to be different.”
He hopes to see some kind of criminal charges filed in the case.
Detectives have identified a suspect and have forwarded their investigation to the Snohomish County Prosecutor’s Office to review for possible charges, such as vehicular assault and felony hit and run.
Collision investigators believe the driver — an Everett man, 32 — failed to make sure his windshield was clear of condensation. He also didn’t stop to check what caused damage to the hood of his vehicle after the impact. He told detectives he thought he had run over something in the roadway.
Scotty’s mom, Lynn Becktell, has moved back from Nevada to help her son. That will include making sure he turns his body every few hours while he sleeps to avoid bed sores.
Between them, they will learn to use a lift to get him in and out of bed.
“We are just taking it day by day,” she said.
Lynn Becktell hopes her son someday can get training to go back to work, but she knows the transition he is making now will take time.
She has appreciated his attitude under such difficult circumstances.
“He really just doesn’t complain,” she said.
Throughout the ordeal, the mother and son have been thankful for friends, family and strangers who have helped out. Earlier this month, a team of volunteers from Home Depot came out to the home on their days off to build the ramp for Scotty’s wheelchair.
The silver lining has been the compassion of others.
“If we didn’t have them, I don’t know what I would have done,” Lynn Becktell said.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.
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