Hit and run leaves boy in hospital

Published 6:49 am Monday, March 3, 2008

SHORELINE — A 14-year-old boy is still in a coma after being struck by a car while in a marked crosswalk.

Joseph Green was struck at 8:30 a.m., July 20, while crossing 175th Street just west of I-5 in Shoreline. The westbound Oldsmobile that hit Green did not stop, but the driver was arrested later that day.

Resident Casey Kenyon, 33, who lives on Corliss Avenue, off 175th Street, saw the incident on his way to work. After Joseph Green was struck, Kenyon said he, among others, got out of their cars to see if the boy was injured and called 911.

“It seemed like he tried to stop before he hit him,” Kenyon said about the driver. “Then after he hit him, he took off.”

Joseph Green was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in critical condition.

“The main thing he suffered is brain injuries, we don’t have any answers,” said Larry Green, 47, Joseph Green’s father. “It is a waiting game, he has not yet regained consciousness.”

A ninth-grader at Shorecrest High School in the fall, Joseph Green is being kept in a sedated coma, until brain swelling goes down, his father said. The family is unsure of the extent of Joseph Green’s head injury.

A long-time Shoreline resident, Larry Green, said his son was in critical stable condition at Harborview Hospital as of Monday, July 25, which was a slight improvement from critical condition.

Larry Green, who was at work when he was notified that his son was injured, has been at the hospital since July 25. He and his wife, Jennifer, have five other children. He said about 50-60 people have been visiting his son at the hospital each day.

At the time of the incident, Joseph Green was walking with a friend west along N. 175th Street to an uncle’s house in Shoreline. He intended to catch a ride to Ballard, where he planned to help rebuild a house to earn extra money.

According to court documents, Joseph Green and the friend were waiting to cross from north to south on N. 175th Street, on the west side of the I-5 overpass at a marked crosswalk with a crossing signal. The friend stated that the pedestrian control device was showing a red hand, but that Green crossed anyway. The friend never saw the Oldsmobile coming, but heard wheels screeching and saw the vehicle strike Green at a speed of about 35 mph.

The driver charged with hitting Green, Eric John King, 20, was traveling west on 175th street to the Shoreline Courthouse. King had borrowed a friend’s car to travel to Shoreline, from his residence in Kenmore.

According to court documents, Joseph Green was found with scrape marks on his upper body and appeared to be suffering convulsions after being hit by the driver’s side of the car.

After the accident, King slowed down but did not stop the car. He eventually pulled into a cul-de-sac, got out and looked at the car. Two witnesses followed the car and spoke with King. The witnesses left and provided police with the license plate number and vehicle description.

King continued to the courthouse, then drove home to Kenmore and went to bed, according to court papers.

Officers arrested King at his residence later that day, where he gave a tape-recorded statement, admitting he was the driver of the Oldsmobile and knew he had hit someone, but did not think it was too bad. He said he got scared and kept driving, then returned home.

King has previous criminal convictions, including assault, residential burglary, theft, vehicle prowl, and several misdemeanor convictions for driving with a suspended license. His license was suspended at the time of the incident.

Joseph Green had been friends with Tia Townsend, the 11-year-old girl who died in 2002 after being struck while in a North City crosswalk by a car driven by an elderly man. Larry Green said his son was working with Tia Townsend’s father, David, on traffic intersection awareness.

King County Sheriff’s Office spokesman John Urquhart said that contrary to rumors, King didn’t run a red light before the accident and the location isn’t where Tia Townsend was hit

King is charged with felony hit and run and is being held on a bail of $100,000. His arraignment is set for Aug. 1.