EVERETT — Bail was set at $200,000 Wednesday for a man accused of ramming a sport utility vehicle through a business on Highway 99 on Tuesday and injuring three people, including a 6-year-old boy.
Shortly before the crash, the suspect entered Cruise America RV in the 12200 block of the highway, south of Everett.
Witnesses said the Bellevue man, 26, acted oddly. A worker told police he noticed the man give the boy a $1 bill while the boy’s mother was looking at brochures.
Witnesses told Snohomish County sheriff’s deputies that the SUV was driving in reverse when it crashed through a glass and metal wall. It drove about 20 feet through the store and hit another wall.
It pinned a woman between the wall and a Coke machine and the boy was forced under the vehicle. The crash occurred around 4:20 p.m.
“The vehicle left marks indicating that it was moving fast when it hit and that the driver stayed on the accelerator after impact,” a deputy wrote in a probable cause affidavit.
The woman, boy and a Coke machine were dragged along the wall toward the north for about 5 feet, police wrote.
The driver then drove out of the business and left behind tire marks as he raced forward.
“This was an amazing scene, and that the victims were not killed is even more amazing,” the deputy wrote in his probable cause affidavit.
The mother and son are from the Lynnwood area.
The mother, 45, suffered a serious arm injury and was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
“We’re told she’s in surgery this morning at Harborview,” sheriff’s spokeswoman Rebecca Hover said Wednesday.
The boy had injuries to his face, but was not admitted to Harborview, Hover said.
A store employee sustained minor injuries. He was treated and released at a local hospital. He is from the Everett area.
“Collision investigators believe alcohol was a factor in the crash, but they don’t know whether the man intentionally crashed into the building,” Hover said.
A witness in the store was able to describe the vehicle and another person was able to provide a license plate number.
Deputies spotted the suspect’s vehicle less than 2 miles away.
The man was arrested for investigation of vehicular assault and hit and run. He was booked into the Snohomish County Jail.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3346; stevick@heraldnet.com.
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