Hit and run ends in crash at roundabout

A bad decision, to hit and run from a motor vehicle accident on Highway 20 north of La Conner Monday afternoon, started a high-speed chase for two Highway State Patrol SUVs. At 3:25 p.m. a Skagit County Sheriff’s Office vehicle joined the chase at Best and Young Roads. It ended when the woman, coming east into La Conner on Chilberg Road, rammed her older model Mazda 626 into the island in front of the roundabout.

The La Conner Hook and Ladder Company responded at 3:31 p.m., almost immediately, to the accident in front of their fire station. “There were no injuries,” reported Fire Chief Josh Morrison. “She went into the back of the cop car” from her car, he said.

The car was totaled, with both air bags deployed, the driver side front axle bent, if not broken, and the oil pan knocked off in its collision with the concrete curb at an estimated 35 miles per hour. Nick Gibbons, the tow truck driver with ASAP Towing of Mount Vernon, thought she was going at least that fast. “She moved all the rocks and everything” on the island he said.

“It costs more to fix the airbags than the car is worth,” he said.

“Long story short, a car crash turned into a DUI,” a state patrol officer said before leaving. He declined to identify himself.

Deputy Hendrickson with the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office, on his return to the scene, said that she was involved in a hit and run on Highway 20 prior to the chase. The State Patrol asked for his Office’s assistance, he said. At 3:25 p.m. 911 reported a call for assistance at Best and Young Roads, northeast of La Conner.