Everett driver admits guilt in death of teenager

Published 10:36 pm Tuesday, February 26, 2008

An Everett neighbor of a 12-year-old skateboarder who was mowed down in a 2006 accident admitted Tuesday that he was the driver of the truck that struck and killed the boy and did not stop.

Kasey Stewart Cline, 27, pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide in the Aug. 21, 2006, traffic death of Justin Freeman. He told Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Ellen Fair that he had been driving “with disregard for the safety of others.”

The Aug. 21 accident happened about 9:30 p.m. near the intersection of S. Third Avenue and Main Street in the Lowell neighborhood. Two companions of the victim said the three had been skateboarding on S. Third Avenue and Justin was trailing behind. The companions stopped so he could catch up.

They heard the sound of skateboard breaking and saw Justin flying through the air, according to court documents.

The companions told police they saw a pickup leave the area.

Cline came in to talk with police the next day, saying that he had been driving in the area and he might have hit something.

He originally was charged in March with being involved in a hit-and-run fatal accident after police and the Washington State Patrol forensics experts did a thorough examination of the pickup Cline had been driving.

The experts concluded that the specific markings on Justin’s clothing and body matched evidence found on the truck, deputy prosecutor Paul Stern said in charging papers.

“It was brilliant police work by the Washington State Patrol crime lab and Everett Police Department that led to a resolution,” Stern said Tuesday.

Stern said he will recommend that Cline spend more than two years in prison, the high end of the sentencing range. Everett defense attorney Pete Mazzone will be free to argue for a prison term of less than two years, Stern said.

Judge Gerald Knight is scheduled May 6 to sentence Cline, who is free pending sentencing.

Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or jhaley@heraldnet.com.