At 6:40PM on Wednesday evening, two Anacortes Police Officers had their patrol cars parked in the eastbound lanes of Highway 20 near R Avenue with their emergency lights illuminated to warn oncoming cars of the slippery road conditions. The patrol vehicles were parked like this for approximately one hour leading up to the notification that one of the unoccupied patrol vehicles was struck by a late model sedan. Officers quickly responded to the scene and spoke with the driver of another sedan in the area that also was struck by the suspect vehicle. The driver told police that she was passing the patrol vehicle when the suspect vehicle struck the side of her car and the patrol car. After the collision, the driver exited his disabled sedan and ran away on foot. The victim driver sustained minor injury and was checked at the scene by medics.
The Corporal in charge of the investigation requested assistance from the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office and Mount Vernon Police Department to help track the suspect. The Sheriff’s Office sent a drone to search the area north of the accident where the suspect had fled. Mount Vernon’s Police K-9 Unit also responded, however, law enforcement personnel were unable to locate the suspect at that time.
Just before 11PM, an Anacortes Police Corporal spoke with a local 48-year old male known to police in the back parking lot of the police department. The subject's physicals and clothing matched the description provided by the victim driver, and the Corporal knew that he was the registered owner of the suspect vehicle. He was taken into custody for hit and run and interviewed. The man admitted that he was in his car earlier that evening, and he hid because he was afraid of what might happen to him. He was booked in the county jail on two counts of hit and run for his involvement in this incident.