Police seek charges in Ruby pileup

Too fast, too furious: seven potential felonies.

The not-so-skilled driving of two Spokane drivers, whose apparent race March 2 up Ruby Street caused a six-vehicle pileup, is expected to result in felony charges, Spokane police Cpl. Tom Lee said.

The Spokane Police Department announced Friday that it is requesting prosecutors file felony charges against two of three drivers who were involved in the crash that snarled traffic for hours during the morning commute.

At the time, Spokane police thought that only 19-year-old Lucas M. Clevenger and 18-year-old Jason R. SiJohn were involved, Lee said in a press release.

However, the investigation by Cpl. Dave Adams determined that a third driver, 20-year-old Daryl B. Morgan, was racing with the other vehicles at the time, Lee said.

The three men were racing northbound in separate vehicles on Ruby Street at 7:56 a.m. March 2 when the 1993 Ford Probe driven by Clevenger and the 1999 Dodge Durango driven by SiJohn went out of control where Ruby merges with Division Street near Cleveland Avenue, Lee said.

The Probe and Durango crossed the concrete median and collided with four vehicles traveling southbound on Division Street, Lee said.

Morgan was driving a 1989 Honda Civic, Lee said, and was not involved in the collision, which caused severe injuries to Clevenger. He was hospitalized with broken ribs, a broken pelvis, a broken left leg and a punctured lung.

SiJohn was complaining of a sore neck, back and arms, police said at the time of the crash.

As a result of the investigation, Adams is seeking to have prosecutors file four felony counts of vehicular assault against SiJohn and three counts of vehicular assault against Clevenger. In addition, Adams requested that a charge of reckless driving, a misdemeanor, be lodged against Morgan.

Deputy Spokane County Prosecutor Clint Francis, who handles vehicular assault cases, said he hasn’t yet seen the documentation seeking charges against the drivers.

“I’ve got a trial next week,” Francis said. “It’s not going to be at the top of my priority list until I’m done with trial.”

None of the three drivers was arrested following the crash. If Francis chooses to charge the three drivers, he will issue them a summons to appear in court.