EVERETT — A Lake Stevens man has been charged in a suspected DUI crash from last year that left a woman with permanent brain damage.
He was charged in Snohomish County Superior Court on Aug. 31 with vehicular assault and hit-and-run injury accident.
The defendant, 48, was driving a Volkswagen Passat going southbound on I-5 early in the morning on May 23, 2019, when he allegedly rear-ended a BMW 325 sedan. The BMW rotated and hit a guardrail before coming to a stop, partially blocking the entrance ramp from 4th Street in Marysville, according to charging papers.
A woman got out of the BMW and sat beside the roadway. She reportedly couldn’t remember getting out of her vehicle at all.
Washington State Patrol troopers arrived to find the Volkswagen abandoned about 200 feet away, its hazard lights blinking. It had significant front-end damage with red marks just above the grill, according to charging papers.
A trooper couldn’t immediately find a suspect, but ended up flagging down an Uber driver. It turned out the driver was supposed to pick up the suspect, who was standing in front of a nearby car dealership.
The trooper arrested the suspect, and noted the odor of alcohol coming from him was “overwhelming.”
“The defendant’s eyes were watery and bloodshot, and he was unsteady on his feet,” according to charging papers.
The suspect agreed to talk and allegedly admitted to driving the Volkswagen. According to prosecutors, the man said he left the scene because he was scared and had too much to drink. He was being stupid, he reportedly said. A trooper found the keys to the Volkswagen in his pocket.
At the crash scene, a trooper noted the injured woman seemed “very dazed and confused.”
“She repeated herself constantly and seemed unable to comprehend simple facts such as that her purse was in her lap rather than in the car,” prosecutors wrote.
She was transported to Providence Regional Medical Center Everett, where she was diagnosed with a brain bleed. She stayed in the intensive care unit for two days, and has continued seeking medical care since her release for general cognitive loss.
According to prosecutors, the woman continues to have trouble remembering common words and has to concentrate to perform simple tasks, such as heating up food.
Since the collision, she has lost her job working for Homeland Security at Sea-Tac Airport, because she could no longer remember the correct procedures involved with searching travelers.
Zachariah Bryan: 425-339-3431; zbryan@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @zachariahtb.
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