A family in Washington is grieving after police say a driver with a lengthy criminal past struck a nineteen-year-old on the Fourth of July and then simply kept on driving. Relatives say their world was shattered in an instant, turning a holiday into a nightmare they are still struggling to comprehend.
According to police in Sedro-Woolley, the driver, suspected of driving under the influence and speeding, hit the young victim on Highway 20 and then left the scene without stopping. It was a hit-and-run that left the family with no warning and no chance to say goodbye.
Officers later located the driver, but by then it was too late for the victim, who died at the scene. What began as a Fourth of July outing ended with a nineteen-year-old losing their life on the roadway before help could change the outcome.
A court hearing on Monday brought the suspect's history into sharp focus. Authorities say the driver has seventeen felony convictions in Washington state alone, and has not gone more than roughly two years without being arrested on new charges since nineteen eighty-nine.
That record has left the grieving family searching for answers. They say they do not understand how someone with so many convictions was on the streets in the first place, repeatedly released time and time again. We just are broken, one relative said, describing the victim as their hero and the rock of the family.
The case is now moving through the courts, with the suspected driver's next court date set for July sixteenth. As the legal process unfolds, the family has turned to a fundraiser for support while pressing the question of how a repeat offender remained free long enough for the deadly Fourth of July crash to happen.