On Friday morning, Jessica Ford got the phone call that no one wants to get.
Her father, Marlin "Duke" French, had been rushed to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. He was seriously hurt, but doctors couldn’t say much more.
"There were instant tears. We didn’t know anything," Ford said. "We still don’t know."
French, 60, was driving home on Cathcart Way about 1:35 a.m. Friday when his Ford Ranger was hit head-on by a man who police say was street racing just before the crash.
The 21-year-old Everett driver lost control of his Honda Civic, skidded broadside across the median and struck French’s vehicle, Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Jan Jorgensen said.
"It appears that he was racing with another car just prior to the collision," Jorgensen said. "The other car had dropped back, but he continued to drive fast and lost control."
French suffered a broken leg and a broken sternum. His spleen is bruised, and several ribs were broken, Ford said.
The father of seven also had internal bleeding, and doctors couldn’t operate on his leg until they were able locate the bleeding, she said.
The Everett grandfather was still in Harborview’s intensive care unit Friday afternoon.
The other driver was also taken to Harborview, where he was in very critical condition with serious head injuries Friday afternoon, Jorgensen said Friday afternoon.
Alcohol was not thought to be a factor in the crash.
It is unclear how fast the Everett man was driving when he hit French. The sheriff’s collision unit is investigating the crash.
The second man, 20, who was allegedly racing with the 21-year-old driver, told detectives he was far enough behind the other man that he didn’t see the accident happen, Jorgensen said. But he still could face criminal charges for his part in the accident, she said.
This is the second time this year in Snohomish County that apparent street racing has ended in a serious crash. An Everett man was charged in May with three counts of vehicular homicide for his part in a fatal accident that killed three people in February in north Everett.
Grant Raymond Fosheim, 20, was allegedly street racing and reaching speeds of up to 80 mph when he plowed into a van, according to court documents.
The van driver, Jenny McCollum, and Cory Baudry and Michael Seavy, passengers in Fosheim’s car, were killed in the crash.
Jorgensen said she hasn’t heard of any complaints of racing on Cathcart Way. Sheriff’ s deputies are often called for racing on Lowell-River Road just a couple miles from the crash.
"If we get a couple of complaints, we send out a couple of patrol cars, write a few citations, and it usually stops," she said.
As a longtime tow-truck driver in Snohomish County, French has seen his fair share of terrible accidents, his daughter said.
"I’m angry that stupidity did this," Ford said. "But it’s hard because this other person could lose their life over it."
Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.
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