Bainbridge blotter | Hit-and-run driver says ‘no big deal’

Published 8:34 am Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Selected reports from the Bainbridge Island Police Department blotter.

MONDAY, JAN. 25

9:54 a.m. The manager of a Bainbridge auto repair business called 911 to report a hit-and-run collision in the parking lot.

A woman had backed her 1989 Ford F250 pickup into an employee’s vehicle, a Volkswagen Passat owned by a 39-year-old Auburn man.

The caller said the driver left, going south toward New Brooklyn Road, and another employee began following the woman but came back to work and said the pickup was parked at the church on the corner of Madison Avenue and High School Road.

The manager said the woman has had a vehicle in the shop for repair but only partially paid the bill. She came in and said she was going to pay off the bill, but when she found out how much she owed, she became angry and went out to her vehicle. The manager said she then backed up, hit the other vehicle, then drove off.

Police examined the victim’s vehicle and found several fresh scuff marks on the plastic cover of the front bumper.

The manager later called 911 again to say they discovered another vehicle had been hit by the woman.

The driver of the other car, a 24-year-old Bainbridge man, said the 2015 Subaru was a rental. There was damage to the front passenger door and door mirror.

Police reviewed a video from the business and saw the woman had backed into the Subaru first, then pulled forward, then began backing up again when she hit the other vehicle.

An officer found the woman parked in the Fletcher mini-mart parking lot. She did not have a current insurance card, but told the officer that she paid for her insurance online and had valid insurance.

The woman was told the case would be forwarded to a prosecutor for hit-and-run and she responded that she would rather “pay for the damage than deal with a prosecutor and judge.”

She also said she would probably have to go to jail and noted she did come back to the scene of the accident, and though it was an hour later, she “did not see the big deal.”

After talking further with an officer, the woman became upset and said she can’t live in her own country and began screaming she was an Indian American.

One of the victims later contacted the woman’s insurance company and found out that her policy had expired.

SATURDAY, JAN. 23

9:32 p.m. Police saw a 42-year-old Bainbridge man in a 2015 VW Golf station wagon drive into the oncoming traffic lane to go around a “Road closed” sign and barricade on Wing Point Way.

The driver then continued along the closed road, but eventually pulled into a driveway next to a home and turned around.

Police followed the vehicle back to Ferncliff Avenue, where the driver was pulled over.

The driver said he was just trying to get home and was tired of taking the detour. He said he turned around because he saw that he was being followed by police.

The man’s eyes were watery and he slurred when he spoke. He also had a very strong odor of alcohol on his breath.

The man said he had consumed two pints of beer before driving.

He failed roadside sobriety tests and an initial breath sample had a result of .098. Later, tests at the police station revealed results of .092 and .094.

The man was arrested for DUI and booked into Kitsap County Jail. His vehicle was impounded and towed.