A man whose own truck may have run over his wife after she apparently leaped from the speeding vehicle pleaded guilty Friday to hit-and-run with a fatality involved.
Steven Wesley Bagdazian, 57, formerly of Lake Stevens, will seek a special waiver for being a first-time offender when he is sentenced Jan. 15.
However, Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Linda Krese could sentence him to up to four years in prison if she turns down the waiver and stays within the sentencing range.
In addition, Bagdazian pleaded guilty to drunken driving, a crime that could give him a county jail term of up to one year. His blood- alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit at the time of the incident, according to court papers.
Bagdazian, who now lives in Houston, was allowed to keep his driver’s license so he could prove his identity to get on an airplane. Krese Friday told him he had to surrender his license via mail within 10 days. He will remain free pending sentencing.
Marsha Bagdazian either fell or jumped from the speeding truck on the U.S. 2 trestle on April 7, 2002. In his plea statement, the defendant said his wife committed suicide.
Some witnesses said the truck’s rear wheel struck her. Others said she was critically injured from the fall to the pavement because the truck was traveling about 70 miles per hour. Nonetheless, Bagdazian sped up and left the area instead of stopping to give aid, as required by law, according to court documents.
Witnesses got ahead of him and blocked his truck before U.S. 2 merged with I-5 in Everett.
Deputy prosecutor Joan Cavagnaro said Washington State Patrol detectives determined it would have been impossible for Bagdazian to have pushed his wife out the passenger door.
He told troopers he had no warning, and that his wife suddenly opened the door and was gone. He said he didn’t stop because there was no safe place to do so.
Witnesses, however, did stop to block traffic and help the injured woman, who died two days later at a Seattle hospital.
Defense lawyer Max Harrison said Bagdazian wants to undergo an alcohol dependency assessment as part of developing an argument that he needs treatment instead of prison.
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
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