Pedestrian killed by alleged drunk driver Saturday in Spokane Valley identified as new details emerge

The pedestrian who was struck and killed by an alleged impaired driver Saturday in Spokane Valley was Kayla Wetherell, according to court documents.

The documents did not include her age nor any other identifying information.

Michael J. Schuk, Jr., 40, was arrested and booked into the Spokane County Jail for suspicion of vehicular homicide. He was still in jail as of Tuesday night with a $100,000 bond.

A preliminary breath test sample from Schuk was 0.093, above the 0.08 legal limit, according to the documents.

Schuk, who was reportedly crying, told a deputy after the crash that he was driving east on East Sprague Avenue when all of the sudden a person ran out from the south side of Sprague, according to documents. He told the deputy he hit the person, who then flew into the air and landed on the street, near the intersection with South Chronicle Road.

Schuk said he was on his way to Wendy’s to pick up dinner for his children after he got off work, the documents said.

Medical personnel attempted lifesaving measures on Wetherell, the documents said. She was taken to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead at 6:22 p.m. Wetherell was struck around 5:50 p.m.

A sergeant with the sheriff’s office observed damage to the left front headlight and bumper of a white 2005 Chevrolet Express van, which Schuk was allegedly driving.

Schuk told Deputy Garrett Spencer, a certified drug recognition expert and certified standardized field sobriety test instructor, that he consumed one 12-ounce Blue Moon beer at about 4 p.m., almost two hours before the crash.

Spencer said in the documents Schuk had confusion about the date and time, and he told Spencer he had not eaten that day. Schuk told Spencer he takes two anti-depressants and Adderal, a stimulant, the documents said.

Schuk also performed a field sobriety test. Spencer said in the documents he believed Schuk was impaired and not safe to drive based on his training and experience.

One witness said in the documents that as he was driving west on the 4800 block of East Sprague, where the crash happened, he saw what appeared to be a bag fly out into his lane and he swerved around to avoid it. He then stopped on the side of the road and realized it was a person.

He said in the documents a different driver in a gray Ford F-150 that had been behind him drove directly over the victim and didn’t stop. The sheriff’s office said Tuesday it’s investigating that witness account.

Another witness said he was driving east on Sprague directly behind Schuk when he noticed glass flying through the air near the front of Schuk’s van. He said he believed someone busted the van’s window and then noticed a white female laying on the ground in the center turn lane.