A motorist who police say lost his load on I-405 near Renton, blinding 24-year-old Maria Federici, is in custody nearly a month after the incident.

A single fingerprint from furniture that smashed through Federici’s windshield on Feb. 22 led Washington State Patrol investigators to a 28-year-old Newcastle man, James Hefley. He was arrested at his workplace Friday afternoon, said Lt. Steve McCulley, a State Patrol spokesman.

Hefley is being investigated for felony hit-and-run, and has been booked into King County Jail, McCulley said. The State Patrol will consult with prosecutors to determine whether other charges will be filed.

A large piece of furniture fell from a southbound U-Haul trailer pulled by an SUV near 30th Street NE just before midnight on Feb. 22. The furniture bounced on the pavement and broke apart, sending a piece of particleboard smashing into Federici’s car.

The SUV driver didn’t stop.

Federici was rushed to Harborview Medical Center. Shew as so badly injured that her mother, who was told it was hopeless, agreed to donate her organs, "held her hand and said goodbye," her mother, Robin Abel, said Friday.

Federici defied the odds. But she remains at Harborview, facing a raft of surgeries and an uncertain future. Her optic nerves were severed, leaving her permanently blind. She suffered severe brain damage as well, and surgeons have had to completely reconstruct her face, which had 200 broken bones.

Abel said she felt some relief as a result of Friday’s arrest and the prospect of getting some financial support for her daughter.

"It’s a resolution," she said from Federici’s bedside, where family members keep watch 24 hours a day. "But it doesn’t make Maria’s situation any better.

"She has so many surgeries ahead of her. Her life is forever changed.

"I’m frightened," Abel said. "If I had 20 lifetimes, I could never pay for what needs to be done."

Abel said she doesn’t have the energy to be angry.

"I feel so sad," she said. The SUV driver "didn’t wake up and say, ‘I’m going to destroy Maria Federici’s life,’ but he did."

In addition to identifying the fingerprint, investigators have determined that Hefley "was in the area at the time" of the incident, McCulley said.

State Patrol officials told KING 5 TV that Hefley had rented a U-Haul and was moving to Newcastle from Tacoma when the incident occurred. They told KOMO TV he returned the trailer the day after the incident.

Hefley pulled over to tighten some straps on the trailer, but told investigators he had no idea that any of his furniture had blown away, KOMO reported.

His fingerprints were in the system because he has a previous record, McCulley said. He would not say what those arrests were for because Hefley has not been charged. KING reported he had previously been arrested in California and Oregon.

Meanwhile, at Harborview, Federici’s family celebrates small successes. Federici is now able to talk through a trachea tube, though she is not fully lucid. She passed a swallow test Thursday for the first time.

The accident robbed her of functioning tear ducts, Abel said. Maria can’t cry, she said. "She has no way to grieve."

"Through the whole thing, she says ‘please’ and ‘thank you,’" Abel said. "It breaks your heart."

King County Journal photo