By Scott North
Herald Writer
EVERETT — The April 27 death of a 16-year-old Lake Stevens girl on her prom night was triggered because a Bellevue man was angry about how another driver had passed his car, Snohomish County prosecutors said Friday.
Allison L. Arnold Jr., 33, and another motorist had been driving in an aggressive manner on Edmonds Way in Edmonds just before the crash that killed Georgia K. Pemberton, deputy prosecutor Michael Downes said in Superior Court papers filed to support a vehicular homicide charge.
Pemberton and her date, Benjamin Dillon, were returning home from their school prom when the road rage suddenly spilled into their lane. Witnesses have reported that Arnold first passed another car, cutting the driver off. The other motorist responded by passing Arnold and cutting in front of him as well.
That’s when Arnold allegedly raced up from behind in his red 1998 Ford Explorer, shot into oncoming traffic and attempted to pass, Downes wrote.
Pemberton’s Mustang, with Dillon at the wheel, was headed in the opposite direction. She was killed in the head-on crash.
The driver of the other vehicle that had been feuding with Arnold has been identified and interviewed by police. He said he heard but did not see the crash. The investigation is continuing, according to court papers.
On the night of the crash, Arnold told police he was not at fault and had swerved into traffic to avoid a collision with the other driver, whom he claimed had pulled in front of him and slammed on his brakes. An investigation by Edmonds police instead concluded that Arnold was simply angry and was trying to pass when the accident occurred, prosecutors allege.
"The investigators have concluded, based on the physical damage to the vehicles, the evidence on the road and statements of witnesses, that Allison L. Arnold Jr.’s Explorer was not only over the centerline, but it was so far over that it was straddling both oncoming lanes at the time of the collision," Downes wrote.
Arnold has a conviction for third-degree rape, multiple misdemeanor assault convictions and a series of criminal traffic offenses, including drunken driving and driving with his license suspended.
At the time of Pemberton’s death, he was under court order to only operate vehicles equipped with an ignition-locking device that would keep him from driving if he had been drinking. The Explorer he was driving was not equipped with the ignition lock, the prosecutor noted.
Arnold "has demonstrated by his behavior in this and other cases that he is a menace on the road and cannot be trusted to follow court orders intended to safeguard the public," Downes wrote.
If convicted, the defendant faces about two years in prison.
Snohomish County Prosecuting Attorney Jim Krider said that is too little punishment, and he intends to push for increased penalties for vehicular homicide.
"This case underscores the inadequacy of the standard sentencing range for vehicular homicide," Krider said in a prepared statement.
"One of the hardest parts of vehicular homicide cases is trying to explain to victim’s families that the state-mandated punishment is so little. It is hard to understand why their loved one’s life is worth so little."
Arnold’s bail was previously set at $50,000.
You can call Herald Writer Scott North at 425-339-3431
or send e-mail to north@heraldnet.com.
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