August 20, 2010 in City

Shawn Vestal: Driver created ‘horrible bond’

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Colin Mulvany photo

Ted Chauvin holds the bike he was riding April 15 when he was hit by a car driven by William Knight. Knight, driving without insurance and with expired tabs, hit and killed a pedestrian two months later. Chauvin has been told that it is unlikely Knight will be charged.
(Full-size photo)

William Knight was driving his 1997 Kia without insurance when he hit a bicyclist outside Cheney in April, police say.

A few days later, he was cited again: no insurance, expired tabs, driving with altered plates.

So Becky Jeffries finds it hard to accept when she’s told by the state patrol that Knight was likely not to blame for hitting and killing her stepfather, James L. Dahl, as he walked across First Street in Cheney on June 27.

Knight is to blame, she says, because he should not have been driving in the first place.

“The fact that he hit somebody else with no insurance, and was stopped (after) that with no insurance – that’s a problem,” she said. “I feel that this guy should be in jail.”

But it seems very possible that this guy will not wind up in jail – at least not for these collisions. (The criminal charges he faces for allegedly stealing his sister’s wedding ring and pawning it might be a different story.) Jeffries and Ted Chauvin – the bicyclist hit on April 15 – say they’ve been told by investigators that Knight probably will not be charged with a crime.

The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office and the Washington State Patrol say they have not arrived at final decisions. Chauvin’s case has been bounced around the sheriff’s department, after the deputy who initially investigated it left the agency. The case has landed on the desk of Detective Dave Thornburg. I couldn’t reach Thornburg, but in a phone message he said the case had simply fallen behind some higher priorities – including a couple of fatal accidents.

“I haven’t forgotten about it, I just haven’t had the time to get back to it,” he said.

WSP spokesman Trooper Troy Briggs didn’t dispute Jeffries’ characterization of the investigation’s status, but couldn’t be more specific on short notice Thursday. A significant detail is the fact that Dahl was not in a crosswalk when he was struck. Briggs said he understands the frustrations of people who lose loved ones, but that a driver with a record still might not be to blame in a given case.

I tried to reach Knight, but he didn’t return my calls.

Chauvin, a research assistant professor in the new medical school program at Washington State University in Spokane, is a longtime bicyclist who was out for a training ride on Cheney-Plaza Road when Knight clipped him from behind.

“Next thing I know, I’m flying through the air, and I see my bike flying one way and his car decelerating,” he said. “It was a really surreal experience.”

Chauvin suffered broken bones in his ankles and wrists. His elbows were “ripped open.” Fortunately, he said, he didn’t suffer any head injuries.

Knight stayed with him, expressed remorse and helped him complete a 911 call, Chauvin said. He told Chauvin he’d been reaching for his cigarettes and hadn’t seen him. But he later appears to have told the sheriff’s deputy that Chauvin was riding on the opposite side of the road – a version of events that went out in the initial news release and was reported in the local media.

That chafed Chauvin, who is passionate about the importance of bicyclists following the rules. He also fears it may have muddied the waters in the investigation of his case.

Chauvin was hospitalized for four days. He had surgeries on his ankle and wrists, with plates and pins now holding things together. He missed five weeks of work. Shortly after he returned, he was reading the newspaper one day when he saw a story about Dahl’s accident.

The driver’s name leapt out at him: William W. Knight Jr.

He called the sheriff’s department, reaching a sergeant who told him the initial investigator had left the department and that no charges were likely, he said.

“Then I dropped the bomb on him,” Chauvin said. “I said, ‘Did you realize this is the same guy who hit and killed a guy in Cheney?’ ”

The sergeant did not. And Thornburg – in his message to me some two months later – says he still needs to sit down with the WSP and consider the cases together.

Jeffries said that, although Dahl was not in a crosswalk, she has a hard time believing there wasn’t some responsibility on Knight’s part. It was a well-lighted area, with no other traffic around, and Dahl was not someone to walk out in front of cars, she said.

She wonders why Knight’s license was not suspended – he has ignored his April citations and they’ve been turned over to a collection agency. It might not have kept him off the road, but it would have given officers a reason to arrest him at the accident, she said.

Jeffries’ aggravation is understandable. But Briggs, the WSP spokesman, and Christine Anthony of the Department of Licensing noted that a driver’s license isn’t suspended immediately for receiving a no-insurance ticket. Drivers have a right to argue their case in court, for one thing. And if they fail to appear, a deadline must pass before the state can act.

As unsatisfying as it is, it takes time.

As unsatisfying as it is, Knight’s license is now, finally, suspended.

Jeffries says she plans to press her case with the police and prosecutors. She and Chauvin want to work toward what they see as a just end: a legal consequence for the man who brought them together.

“We have this horrible bond now,” Chauvin said. “Thanks to Mr. Knight.”

Shawn Vestal can be reached at (509) 459-5431 or shawnv@spokesman.com.

16 comments on this story so far. Add yours!

• 

  ChefGus/ John Olsen on August 20 at 5:41 a.m.

  Shawn/.. thanks for this investigative report… the sad thing is that even if it were forwarded to the County Prosecutor it might just have stayed on the table there too…. Our whole system is not workin real well… j

• 

  DPA on August 20 at 6:19 a.m.

  Chef Gus,

  Do you have some particular insight on how felony traffic cases are prosecuted in Spokane when you make the statement that even if the case was forwarded to the prosecutor’s office it might sit on the table there too?

  I can tell you from experience (I have prosecuted many felony traffic cases) that felony traffic cases do not just sit. In fact we have one of the best, most dedicated and hardworking deputy prosecuting attorneys in the state responsible for the majority of these cases.

  While low level drug and property cases have had to sit due the the county commissioner’s extreme budget cut to the office, felony traffic cases are not in this category.

  Your comment is not simply uninformed, it is ignorant. You should educate yourself before making further disparaging comments about the hardworking deputy prosecutors in the office.

• 

  misjustice on August 20 at 7:51 a.m.

  I think there is adequate evidence, just in the above article, which would lend credibility to Chef John’s claim that “our whole system is not workin real well.”

  Face it, DPA, the Prosecutor’s office has a bad reputation of not charging cases in a timely manner.

  The SR reported on this problem back in March;
  “Efforts to reduce Spokane County’s jail needs through swift justice have hit a “significant roadblock” in the prosecutor’s office…Once again, jail consultant David Bennett told commissioners, the prosecutor’s office is regularly failing to file formal charges within 72 hours.”
  http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2010/mar/24/deadlines-bedevil-prosecutors-office/

  Maybe if we elect a new County Prosecutor in November the office will be cleaned up and cases will get charged…Just sayin’

• 

  lewis8457 on August 20 at 8:11 a.m.

  DPA I am here to inform you that many criminal cases fall through the cracks. We all know of several cases that have fallen through the cracks involving police officers.

  Does Otto Zehm ring a bell?

• 

  lewis8457 on August 20 at 8:18 a.m.

  Everywhere I go i see cars with expired tags i saw one the other day that was expired two years.

  drive by rock point and count em, unbelievable in that the cops drive right by there on the way to the city garage.

  They cant do their jobs so Mr. apple wants to raise the tab fees.

  Instead of taxing the populous that drive cars how about the city do its job and find and ticket lawbreakers.

  Find a person that is all ready on payroll that isn’t doing anything, Mayor verner comes to mind. Put this person in car and have them drive through every block in this city. They will ticket all cars on the street with expired tags; they will ticket all landowners who have not mowed their lawns, causing a fire hazard. They will also make a note of all potholes.

  O my it almost makes sense!

• 

  lewis8457 on August 20 at 8:19 a.m.

  who wants to bet if this guy ran into a cop car then he would see some jail time.

• 

  misjustice on August 20 at 8:27 a.m.

  I agree, Lewis. If Knight had hit a cop, he’d been charged post haste!

• 

  Diana on August 20 at 10:01 a.m.

  Great news that they suspended Knight’s license, since people with suspended licenses don’t ever drive.

• 

  eagleproducer on August 20 at 10:07 a.m.

  DPA: Why do you think the general public holds the PA’s office in such low esteem? Your boss, a three term incumbent, just finished second to a heretofore unknown in the recent primary.

  Your office, along with the detectives, just need to work smarter and harder. Get it done and quit making excuses about having less resources. That’s the case for just about every public employee. Are we all supposed to just throw up our arms and say “sorry, it’s a recession, I can’t teach your kids, fight crime, open the pools, collect garbage, etc.?”

• 

  amwillia1 on August 20 at 10:17 a.m.

  This is just wrong! We have laws stating that a person is supposed to have a valid driver’s license and carry at least the minimun financial responsibility of insurance in order to drive a vehicle. Then to have killed a pedestrian & hit another person riding a bike on top of this?!!! This person should have been herded into jail the second after it happened! Why do we even have the dang laws & requirements if they are not going to be followed? Come on law enforcement, get off your duffs & do what’s right here!!!

• 

  spokanecougar on August 20 at 12:02 p.m.

  So true about if this guy hit a cop he would be sitting in jail right now. This isn’t high on the police priority right now because no officer was involved in the accident.

• 

  JayNW on August 20 at 2:55 p.m.

  Maybe if people understood what the law said, and how its written, they would understand why there are no charges for hitting somone who is not in a crosswalk.

  A jury just aquitted a man of vehicular homicide for almost the same thing. There isn’t evidence to show true reckless driving, (willfull and wanton disregard for the safety of people and property). Go to http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?Cite=46
  and look up the actual driving laws. Cops and prosecutors can only charge someone based on how our laws are written. And prosecutors can only charge someone (within 72 hrs) if the cops submit their probable cause information within a certain amount of time.

  Not excusing them totally- but people really should educate themselves on the entire process. But hey, not my problem if you want to stay ignorant of the truth.

• 

  brucer on August 20 at 4:11 p.m.

  Whatever the laws are I think this case needs to hang this guys ass on whatever violations that can be charged at this stage, There are some big wrongs—this is one.

• 

  pmwarner on August 20 at 4:22 p.m.

  Great work Shawn! May Becky and Ted prevail.

• 

  flutieflakes on August 20 at 6:01 p.m.

  So you can run over people and your license will not be suspended, but by god if you don’t pay your seat-belt violations they’ll string your @$$ up. Makes sense to me.

• 

  zelda on August 20 at 11:00 p.m.

  Another good one, Shawn. Tell your bosses to give you more column inches. Maybe I’ll take out an ad to make it happen.

  I thought it was bad enough with the drunks and the texters. This guy sounds like he’s watching TV while he drives. It would be a public service to know where he lives so we don’t come within a 25-mile radius of his excursions.