Teen driver faces charges over injury
A 16-year-old Spokane Valley girl faces felony charges connected to a July 1 accident that left 14-year-old Amaryssa Byers in critical condition for nearly two weeks.
Spokane Valley Police Detective Tom Henderson has recommended that Jessica A. Napier be charged with vehicular assault and injury hit and run.
Throughout the investigation, Napier refused to tell police what had happened, Henderson said. He relied on witness statements when deciding what charges to recommend.
It’s unusual for someone to refuse to talk to him, he said.
“I’m not allowed to make any assumption from her lack of a desire to make a statement,” he said.
Police said Napier was driving a 1993 Geo Storm hatchback filled with passengers. Three girls were inside with Napier, and two girls including Byers were on the rear of the car, lying with their backs on the glass and facing backward. Byers fell off when Napier turned south on Union Road from 21st Avenue, and she suffered a severe skull fracture.
The passengers in the car said Napier gave them her cell phone to call 911, then fled because she was afraid of getting into trouble, said police spokesman Cpl. Dave Reagan. Napier has an intermediate driver’s license that prohibits her from having any non-family member passengers under the age of 20. Napier had her license for only 2½ months before the accident, Reagan said.
When police and paramedics arrived, the passengers who remained on the scene initially gave them incorrect information, Henderson said. The girls, all ages 14 to 16, claimed they had found Byers lying in the road.
“They came up with a different story, that she must have been hit by a car,” Henderson said. “There were some roofers in the area that saw what happened. Once confronted with the truth, they caved pretty easy.”
The passengers gave police Napier’s name and phone number and a police officer called her. “She was ordered back to the scene,” Henderson said. “She wasn’t coming back until we suggested it.”
The witnesses also told police that Napier encouraged them not to tell the officers what had happened, Reagan said.
Byers spent 10 days in a medically induced coma because of severe brain swelling. She was upgraded to serious condition before being transferred to St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Institute on Tuesday.
“It’s unusual to have a patient wake up and ask for something to drink after this severe of head trauma,” pediatric critical care Dr. Mark Buchholz told The Spokesman-Review last week. “Most patients never wake up. It is truly a remarkable recovery.”
Byers will likely spend months recovering from her injuries. It’s unknown if she’ll suffer permanent effects from the accident.
Napier’s father, Jim Napier, declined to comment when contacted by a reporter Wednesday. The Byers family also declined to comment.