EVERETT — The teenage son of a Snohomish County Superior Court judge confessed Friday to driving drunk and fleeing from a crash that injured an Edmonds police officer last year.
Peter Anthony Lucas, 19, pleaded guilty to running from the scene of an injury accident. That’s a felony. He also pleaded guilty to drunken driving, a gross misdemeanor. He was sentenced to seven months in jail.
Lucas will be able to serve two months on home electronic monitoring on the campus of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he is a pre-med student. Another month was converted to 240 hours of community service. He may be able to serve the remaining four months on work release, according to court documents filed late Friday afternoon.
Lucas is the son of Superior Court Judge Eric Lucas.
Former Snohomish County Prosecutor Janice Ellis requested that Island County Prosecutor Gregory Banks handle the case to avoid a potential appearance of a conflict of interest. King County Superior Court Judge Bruce Hilyer oversaw Friday’s plea and sentencing.
Lucas initially was charged in July with four felonies, including vehicular assault, assault on an officer and attempting to elude police. Prosecutors alleged that Lucas rammed an Edmonds police officer’s patrol car during a pursuit on New Year’s Day, 2009. The officer received substantial injuries to his neck that caused him to be out of work for three months.
The incident began when an Edmonds officer attempted to stop a Honda Civic. The driver stopped in a parking lot, then sped toward the officer’s car, according to court papers.
The impact of the collision stalled the patrol car and injured the officer. The Honda left the scene. A few minutes later another Edmonds officer spotted two men attempting to change a flat tire on a damaged Honda Civic. The officer ordered the men to stop.
Peter Lucas got behind the wheel and tried to ram a police car but instead lost control and crashed, according to court papers. He was subdued with an electric shock from a stun gun.
Lucas earlier had been drinking at a party. He got scared when the officer attempted to stop him, according to his attorney Laura Martin, with the Snohomish County Public Defender’s Association.
He was “scared for his future, for what his parents would do to him for drinking and driving, for how this would affect his schooling. He made a grave mistake.” Martin wrote in court papers.
Lucas had no previous criminal history. An assessment revealed no drug or alcohol addiction, according to court papers.
“Mr. Lucas will forever be a convicted felon,” Martin wrote. “This conviction, in and of itself, will have dire consequences for his future.”
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com.
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