A pedestrian killed by a suspected drunk driver in the Spokane Valley on Saturday has been identified as new details emerged
The pedestrian who was struck and killed by an allegedly disabled driver in the Spokane Valley on Saturday was Kayla Wetherell, according to court documents.
The documents did not contain their age or other identifying information.
Michael J. Schuk, Jr., 40, was arrested and sentenced to the Spokane County Jail on suspicion of vehicular murder. He was still in prison on $100,000 bail as of Tuesday night.
A preliminary breath test sample from Schuk read 0.093, above the legal limit of 0.08, according to the documents.
Schuk, who was reportedly crying, told a deputy after the accident that he was driving east on East Sprague Avenue when suddenly a person ran out from the south side of Sprague, according to documents. He told the deputy he hit the person, who then blew up and landed on the street near the junction with South Chronicle Road.
Schuk said he was on his way to Wendy’s to pick up dinner for his kids after getting home from work, the documents said.
Medical personnel attempted life-saving procedures on Wetherell, the documents say. She was taken to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead at 6:22 p.m. Wetherell was struck at around 5:50 p.m
A sheriff’s office sergeant noticed damage to the left front headlight and bumper of a white 2005 Chevrolet Express van that Schuk allegedly drove.
Schuk told Deputy Garrett Spencer, a certified drug detection expert and certified standardized field sobriety test instructor, that he drank a 12-ounce Blue Moon beer around 4 p.m., almost two hours before the crash.
Spencer said in the documents that Schuk was confused about the date and time, and he told Spencer he didn’t eat anything that day. Schuk told Spencer he was taking two antidepressants 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 unsafe to drive based on his training and experience.
A witness said in the documents that as he was driving west on the 4800 block of East Sprague, where the accident happened, he saw a bag fly into his lane and he swerved to avoid it. Then he stopped at the side of the road and realized that it was a person.
He said in the documents that another driver in a gray Ford F-150 who had been behind him ran straight over the victim and did not stop. The document gave no details on whether MPs are pursuing a possible second suspect and they could not be immediately reached for comment on Tuesday. The sheriff’s office said Tuesday it is investigating the witness report.
Another witness said he was driving east on Sprague just behind Schuk when he noticed glass flying through the air near the front of Schuk’s van. He said he thought someone smashed the van’s window and then noticed a white woman lying on the ground in the center turn lane.