By CATHY LOGG
Herald Writer
MONROE — The family of a young man who was one of three people killed in a traffic crash near Duvall on Sunday has set up a fund to help the other crash victims and their families.
"Nothing I do will bring my son back to life, but for those other families out there who have lost their sons or their daughter, or those just struggling with their grief, maybe this will help," Sam Mutt said Wednesday.
His 19-year-old son, Brian S. Mutt, was the driver of one of two pickup trucks that collided head-on on Highway 203 near Cherry Valley Road north of Duvall.
His girlfriend, Karri Ann Wilson, 18, of Lynnwood, and a 6-year-old boy also died.
Three others were airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Larry J. Brown, 38, remains in critical condition, and Peggy Brown, 38, remains in satisfactory condition. The two are from Billings, Mont. The boy, whose name has not been released because his family does not know of his death, was in Brown’s truck. A friend of Mutt’s, Joseph R. Knuckey, 18, of Monroe, was listed in serious condition at Harborview.
Another friend of Mutt’s was spared in the crash. Two couples had gone to Moses Lake to ride dirt bikes and were on their way home, Sam Mutt said. Brian had dropped off the other friend at her home in Woodinville.
Mutt would like to visit the other crash victims as soon as possible, he said. He and his family expressed their deep regret for the injuries and deaths.
"There’s a lot of people hurting out there," he said. "People will hurt for a long time."
Sam Mutt said he had heard that when his son attempted to pass another vehicle, the other vehicle sped up and blocked him from moving back into the northbound lane moments before his truck and Brown’s hit head-on in the southbound lane.
Washington State Patrol Lt. Mark Thomas confirmed that Mutt was passing another vehicle on the highway, and said that vehicle did not stop. Patrol investigators had not heard any allegation that the unknown driver may have been involved in the crash, which remains under investigation.
"If in fact that’s true, then there wasn’t anything Brian could do," his father said. "I hope that person has enough of a conscience that it haunts them for the rest of their life. If it’s not what happened, then Brian simply made a bad mistake.
"Brian was a good kid. He wasn’t a drinker or a smoker," Sam Mutt said.
He’d had only one other wreck, several years ago, when a spider crawled down from his visor in front of his eyes, startling him, and his vehicle ran off the road and struck a power pole, his father said.
In Sunday’s crash, two motorcycles in the back of the pickup crashed through the pickup’s rear window into the cab, Sam Mutt said.
An employee in Snohomish County’s public works department, Mutt wants to talk to youths about safe driving, he said. His family has seen too much death because of it, he said.
In March, Brian and Sam were providing aid to a driver whose vehicle crashed head-on into a dump truck on Highway 522 when the man died, he said.
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