A jury this morning is scheduled to begin deliberating whether a Kenmore man was just a little careless or acted with criminal negligence when he crossed the centerline of Machias Road and injured two motorcycle police officers.
Christopher Robert Church, 26, faces charges of vehicular assault, third-degree assault and leaving the scene of an injury accident.
Deputy prosecutor Paul Stern told the jury that Church had taken methamphetamine a couple of days before the Feb. 13 collision and was coming down from the high.
He told jurors the evidence shows that Church was lethargic and sleepy in the aftermath of taking the drug. Stern suggested the man had started to nod off while driving.
Defense lawyer Michael Jones said it may be illegal to take methamphetamine, but Church is not charged with drug possession. He told jurors the prosecutor is jumping to a lot of conclusions.
“The prosecutor is saying he must be guilty because he had meth in him,” Jones said.
The collision happened when seven police officers riding motorcycles were heading north on Machias Road. They were taking back roads because a serious accident on I-5 closed the freeway.
The oncoming pickup truck and trailer started to drift over the centerline of the two-lane road and two officers were injured, one severely. Lynnwood officer Scott Dilworth was struck by the trailer, crashed into the side of the vehicle and fell to the pavement. He had numerous broken bones, has not returned to work and is still undergoing operations.
A second officer, Corey Cook of Snohomish, plowed into Dilworth and the wrecked motorcycle. Cook wound up in some blackberry bushes with injuries to his neck .
Church didn’t know about the collision, and that’s why he didn’t immediately stop to give aid, as the law requires, Jones said. He agreed there may be negligence for crossing the centerline, but he insisted that is an issue that may be settled in the civil courts. He said what Church did is not a crime that carries a prison sentence.
Stern told jurors that Church might be a nice guy, and he’s not suggesting he isn’t.
“It’s not about him,” Stern said. “It’s about what he did.”
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