EVERETT — Karen Rose got the call every parent dreads around 5 p.m. Tuesday.
The news was numbing: Her son and three grandchildren were in the hospital after being run down by a car from behind as they walked on a north Everett sidewalk.
The hospital chaplain told her she needed to come quickly to Providence Regional Medical Center Everett.
“All the way to the hospital, I did a lot of praying,” Rose said.
The Everett woman’s prayers were answered. Her son, 40, along with her three grandchildren, 16, 8 and 2, will survive.
The driver, 31, received no serious injuries. She was arrested Tuesday evening for investigation of vehicular assault, police said.
Detectives are in the early stages of their investigation, Everett police Officer Aaron Snell said Wednesday.
Police believe the driver had been drinking alcohol, Snell said. They are waiting for toxicology results.
Chauncey Filbert, 40, was walking north in the 2600 block of Broadway with his teenage son as well as his niece. His nephew was in a stroller.
Around 4:30 p.m., the driver of a Pontiac Bonneville swerved, drove over the curb and struck them, police said.
Filbert suffered a broken leg and flesh on the other leg was filleted to the bone, requiring skin and muscle grafts, Rose said. Initially, doctors warned there was a chance he could lose his leg, Rose said. By Wednesday, they said it could be surgically repaired.
Rose’s grandson, Ben Elliott, 16, also suffered a broken leg and had pins inserted into the limb during a surgery Wednesday. He has been visiting from Minnesota where he lives with his mother. His new eyeglasses, which he long been waiting for, were knocked off when he was hit. They were found near the car’s windshield and have been taken into evidence.
Dakota Lawyer — Filbert’s niece, 8 — said her uncle shoved her into some bushes to protect her.
“I think my uncle turned around and heard the engine,” said Dakota, who will be entering the third grade at Garfield Elementary School next fall. “He didn’t want me or my little brother to get hurt. He was trying to push me out of the way.”
Dakota received a broken foot and four stitches to her head. Her brother, Benny, 2, received six stitches on his forehead and some bruises.
After the accident, Dakota recognized how lucky it was that no one was more badly hurt. She told her grandma: “I know God was with us.”
Rose said she, too, is counting her blessings. She’s thankful for bystanders who came to her family’s aide as well as the paramedics who treated them on the scene and the hospital staff.
“I’m just so grateful and so blessed,” she said. “As far as I’m concerned, my son is a hero. The first thing he wanted to do was to make sure the kids were OK.”
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.
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