EVERETT — A Snohomish County judge agreed Tuesday with a 10-year-old girl who once told investigators that the man who hit her should go to jail.
The girl, then 9, was struck in February by a car driven by Richard Fowler as she walked to school in Everett. Fowler then drove off with the girl, telling her he was going to take her to the hospital. He eventually dropped the child at a convenience store in Shoreline. Fowler told her to go inside and ask someone to call for an ambulance. He later called police and turned himself in.
The girl told an interview specialist she thought the man should go to jail because “everybody knows you don’t move an injured person,” according to court records.
Fowler, 39, was sentenced Tuesday to just over a year in prison. He pleaded guilty last month to vehicular assault and hit-and-run injury accident. As part of the plea agreement, Snohomish County deputy prosecutors dropped the second-degree kidnapping charge against Fowler.
The girl was in court with her family Tuesday. Her mother kept an arm around the girl’s shoulders as Fowler apologized.
“I know it was a nightmare what I put you through,” he said.
Fowler will be required to pay the medical bills for the girl, including the dental work she’ll eventually need.
Superior Court Judge Ellen Fair told Fowler he was fortunate that the girl wasn’t more severely hurt. She also said she believed Fowler panicked after hitting the girl and “made a series of really, really, really bad decisions.”
The judge commended the girl for how she handled herself during the ordeal.
“I was really impressed by what a very brave young lady she was,” Fair said.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463, hefley@heraldnet.com.
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