A Seattle man was killed after he was struck by a car while jogging along Finch Road with another runner just after 9:30 a.m. Sunday.
The other jogger was seriously injured, but his condition was upgraded earlier this week from “serious” to “stable,” according to Bainbridge Island Police Chief Matthew Hamner.
Hamner said the driver of the vehicle, a four-door Honda, was a young man who lives on Bainbridge.
Hamner said authorities were expecting to identify the victims of the crash, as well as the driver, sometime this week.
The Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the crash, and Hamner said additional details of the incident will be released as the investigation progresses.
“We’re still waiting for their results,” Hamner said. “Probably in the next seven to 10 days, we should have a report.”
The crash appeared to have occurred as the driver was heading north when the vehicle struck the pair of joggers, just south of NE Carmella Lane and the intersection of Finch and Sportsman Club roads.
A woman who witnessed the aftermath of the Father’s Day crash said she had seen the two joggers on Finch Road while she was heading north to drop off someone at church. On her trip back home, she came upon the collision just after it happened.
One jogger was lying in the middle of the road, and the other man was in the field next to Finch Road, she said.
The crash prompted a massive emergency response.
Multiple units from off-island were called in, and just after the collision, seven units were on scene, including four from the Bainbridge Island Fire Department and two from the Bainbridge Island Police Department.
A unit from the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office was also seen heading south on Highway 305 toward the scene, and additional units continued to arrive shortly before 10:30 a.m.
Two men, one who told police he was the father of one of the victims, arrived at the scene just before 10 a.m. and was taken to one of the aid units by emergency personnel.
Both of the joggers were loaded into aid units and reportedly taken to the field at Bainbridge High School for an airlift to Seattle.
Finch Road was closed to traffic as the investigation continued for nearly six hours.
Hamner said Kitsap County was conducting the probe as the sheriff’s department has extensive training in investigating fatality accidents.
“We brought in Kitsap County Sheriff’s investigators because they have expertise in these fatal accidents,” he said.
