Suspect caught after driving through scene of alleged hit and run

A hit-and-run suspect was taken into custody Thursday after driving past the scene of the accident he allegedly fled.

The three-vehicle collision was reported on Highway 20 near Northwest Broadway at 3:20 p.m., according to Fire Chief Ed Hartin of Central Whidbey Island Fire and Rescue.

According to witnesses, a silver sedan failed to stop as it turned onto the highway from Broadway, was struck by another vehicle, spun around and hit a Ford pickup. The silver sedan left the scene, traveling north on the highway.

Two people were transported to WhidbeyHealth Medical Center with minor injuries, Hartin said.

Central Whidbey Fire Commissioner Paul Messner happened to be walking on the Kettles Trail nearby and witnessed the event, Hartin said.

Nearly an hour after the initial collision, while officials from State Patrol and the Coupeville Marshal’s Office were still on scene, a man driving a heavily damaged silver sedan drove by and turned onto Ebey Road. The car was dented and its wheel wobbled as it rolled past.

A reporter on scene saw as Deputy Marshal Leif Haugen notice the car and rush to his patrol vehicle in pursuit of the possible hit-and-run suspect.

Haugen pulled the man over on Terry Road at 3:58 p.m. but couldn’t open the car door because of the damage, according to Hartin. Central Whidbey firefighters used a hydraulic rescue tool to remove the driver’s side door. The man had abdomen and neck pain and was transported to WhidbeyHealth for serious, but non-life-threatening, injuries, Hartin said.

A state trooper took the man into custody, according to State Patrol spokesperson Heather Axtman.