EVERETT — The punch, it’s alleged, was consensual — a mutually agreed-upon yet ultimately tragic attempt between two high school students at making amends.
The lone blow outside a Lake Roesiger cabin early Sunday morning ended one life and landed an 18-year-old classmate in the Snohomish County Jail for investigation of manslaughter.
Michael Galen, 18, was supposed to start a new job Monday at a fast-food restaurant. Instead, the young man from Lake Stevens was wearing green and white jail coveralls at a hearing where a judge found probable cause to hold him on $10,000 bail.
The victim was Jarom Thomas, the Granite Falls School District said in a Facebook post urging support for his grieving family.
Both Thomas, 18, and Galen attended Crossroads High School in Granite Falls, officials said.
Shortly after midnight Sunday, the pair got into a confrontation following a fender bender outside a party in the 900 block of SW Lake Roesiger Road.
Witnesses allege Galen punched Thomas in the face, knocking him unconscious. Thomas fell backwards and hit his head on the concrete pavement, sheriff’s office spokeswoman Shari Ireton said.
Earlier, Galen was alone in a friend’s car that was struck by a car driven by Thomas. The other vehicle had minimal damage.
Galen allegedly confronted his classmate and became upset when the other teen called him a liar.
The two exchanged words and pushed each other, according to a probable cause statement.
At some point they reportedly agreed to resolve their differences by having Galen punch Thomas once in the face.
A witness said the pair even shook hands after reaching their pact and smoked a cigarette together.
“After they finished their cigarette, (the victim) stood in front of Michael as a willing participant and let Michael punch him,” detectives alleged in court papers.
Afterward, the unconscious Thomas was carried into the cabin. Efforts to wake him proved futile.
A friend of Thomas drove him to Providence Regional Medical Center Everett where he later died from his injuries.
Michael Galen’s father, who has the same name, attended his son’s bail hearing Monday. His eyes were swollen and red.
“I’m crying for their loss,” the suspect’s father said. “I’m sad for his family. I’m so sorry for the family for what has happened.”
When his son told him what happened, the father urged him to wait for police to arrive and to “tell the truth to the T.” He said his son was scared and cried.
The father said the punch seems to be part of a code among young people to resolve their differences.
“It should never have happened,” he said.
A witness told detectives that Galen initially told him to say it was a case of self-defense.
Galen later allegedly told deputies that he punched the teen and acknowledged trying to make up a story that he acted in self defense. By then, Galen had been receiving death treats via social media, detectives wrote.
Galen has no criminal history.
Patty Richard, the suspect’s aunt, said the outcome is tragic.
“We prayed for them,” she said. “We prayed for him.”
Galen was booked into the Snohomish County jail for investigation of second-degree manslaughter. The case remains under investigation by sheriff’s office Major Crimes Unit detectives.
In Washington state, second-degree manslaughter is defined as causing the death of someone “with criminal negligence.”
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com
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