EVERETT — An Everett man told officers he had been drinking before he hit and killed a pedestrian early Saturday, according to police.
Just after midnight, Daniel Brakke, 30, was hit in the 4800 block of Glenwood Avenue. The Everett man died at the scene, according to an officer’s report.
Everett police found a Mazda about 15 feet east of the sidewalk, down a slight embankment on private property. There was an “obvious trail of debris” starting from Glenwood Avenue, where a wooden electrical pole had been damaged, causing a power outage, the officer wrote.
The trail of splintered wood reportedly led from the pole, to the sidewalk, southward off the roadway to where Brakke was found with a dead dog. The Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office determined Brakke died of blunt-force injuries.
Police believe the driver of the Mazda was Daniel Rodrigues, a 31-year-old Everett man. He was found sitting in the brush outside his car, clutching his arm.
When officers asked what happened, Rodrigues said he hit a pole and maybe a person, according to the police report.
“I messed up,” he reportedly added. “I’ve been drinking.”
Rodrigues was taken to Providence Regional Medical Center Everett for his injuries. In a police interview there, Rodrigues said he’d been drinking malt liquor “but he could not remember when he started, how much he drank, where he was drinking, if he was drinking with anyone or what happened,” the Everett officer wrote in a report.
The suspect also reportedly couldn’t recall much about his day and forgot he’d hit someone. He said he could only remember hitting the pole. The officer noted Rodrigues’ eyes were glassy, his speech was repetitive and he often couldn’t retain information.
But he did acknowledge driving the Mazda and being the only person in the car, according to court documents. Rodrigues was arrested for investigation of vehicular homicide.
He was in custody Monday at the Snohomish County Jail with bail set at $500,000. Rodrigues appeared in court Monday with his arm in a sling.
Jake Goldstein-Street: 425-339-3439; jake.goldstein-street@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @GoldsteinStreet.
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