SEATTLE — A 23-year-old woman has been charged after crashing her vehicle and striking four pedestrians on Aurora Avenue North in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood Friday afternoon. Two of the pedestrians that were struck died.
On Wednesday, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged Radalyn King of Brier with two counts of vehicular homicide, felony hit and run, vehicular assault, and reckless driving.
Authorities who responded to the fatal crash suspected King may have been high on methamphetamine.
When King was arrested, officers noted her eyelids were droopy, her eyes were watery and her speech was soft and slow, according to probable cause documents released Monday. One officer suspected “she was high.”
Another officer called her statements “bizarre” and said King was “laughing and speaking nonsensically.” A witness told police she heard the driver say something about a baby, but a baby wasn’t found in the vicinity of the crash. Later King told police that a dog was involved in the crash, not a baby.
King also told police “she crashed intentionally and that her eyes were closed,” according to court documents.
Two pedestrians were killed and two others were injured when King crashed her car just north of the Aurora Bridge.
Rebecca Richman, 28, died at the scene from multiple blunt force trauma, according to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office. Michael Richman, 26, died at Harborview Medical Center a day after the crash, also from multiple blunt force trauma injuries.
Two others were transported to Harborview Medical Center after the crash in satisfactory and serious conditions.
A witness told police a Nissan Sentra driven by King sped up the bus lane of Aurora Avenue North before trying to take a right turn and hitting the four pedestrians. The car then rolled into the northbound lanes of the highway. Witnesses told police the driver got out of the car and hid before police found her several blocks north of the scene and arrested her.
King is being held on $500,000 bail.
