EVERETT — A Navy sailor who allegedly hit and killed a pedestrian with his car on Evergreen Way earlier this month has been charged with fleeing the scene of the crash.
On Wednesday, prosecutors charged Ashton Dedmon, 25, with a hit-and-run fatality in the death of Joshua Kollman.
Dedmon is a petty officer second class assigned to the USS Kidd in Everett, said Navy public affairs officer Lt. Ronan Williams. He is still enlisted with the Navy after the incident, Williams said.
Just before 10:30 p.m. March 1, a witness called 911 to report a car struck a man in the 4900 block on Evergreen Way, according to the charges. The witness told dispatchers a blue Mustang hit the man, came to a stop, then continued driving south, leaving the man lying in the middle of the road.
Officers found the pedestrian face up in the northbound lane of Evergreen Way, the charges say. Paramedics examined him and pronounced the man dead at the scene.
The deceased was later identified as Kollman, of Everett. He was 53.
Security footage from a nearby QFC gas station showed Kollman crossing the southbound lanes of Evergreen Way before being hit by the Mustang, according to the charges. He “cartwheeled” over the car before landing on the back of the vehicle and falling off, deputy prosecutor Tobin Darrow wrote.
A nearby officer saw the suspected vehicle speeding southbound on Evergreen Way, according to court documents. After stopping the Mustang, the officer noticed the entire back windshield was shattered. The car also had a crack in the front windshield, and was missing a wiper blade. The front of the car was damaged, as well, including a dislodged bumper and denting on the passenger side, Darrow wrote.
Dedmon was driving the Mustang, according to police.
While being arrested, he acknowledged hitting Kollman, who he accused of jaywalking, the documents said.
Dedmon told police he panicked and intended to stop at a gas station on Casino Road to think things over, according to the charges. He reported drinking alcohol earlier that night. A portable breath test showed his blood alcohol level at .039, below the legal limit.
Dedmon didn’t think the man was dead because, “I wasn’t going, like, (expletive), 70 miles an hour or something,” according to court papers.
In his obituary, Kollman’s family included a poem by Mary Alice Ramish:
Those we love remain with us for love itself lives on,
and cherished memories never fade
because a loved one’s gone.
Those we love can never be
more than a thought apart,
for as long as there is a memory,
they’ll live on in the heart.
Jonathan Tall: 425-339-3486; jonathan.tall@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @EDHJonTall.
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