A man arrested in North Seattle this week on suspicion that he struck and killed a motorcyclist with his car was charged Friday with vehicular homicide, felony hit-and-run, reckless driving, violation of ignition interlock and driving with a suspended license, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office.
According to the case summary, a police officer noticed a man -- later identified as 26-year-old Payton Lee Maddy -- sitting in a car without a valid license plate in North Seattle on Wednesday morning. When Maddy started driving away in a "strange and concerning manner," the officer followed him, according to charging documents.
In the next few minutes, Maddy drove through a gas station, made sudden U-turns, cut off other drivers and appeared to be accelerating in an attempt to escape police, the documents said.
Maddy then turned onto Northeast 130th Street, where the officer lost sight of him, and was trying to turn onto 15th Avenue Northeast when Maddy drove into the motorcyclist, who was heading south on 15th Avenue, according to the documents.
The victim, 61-year-old David Harder, was thrown from the bike, and Maddy fled on foot, leaving Harder in the road.
The officer who had been following Maddy quickly found the crash site and started tending to Harder's injuries. Harder was taken to Harborview Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead.
Officers found Maddy about 15 minutes later in a shed in a nearby backyard. He showed signs of drug use and police said he told them he had used heroin that morning, according to charging documents.
The state Department of Licensing later noted Maddy is required to use an ignition-interlock device, which tests drivers' breath for signs of alcohol before they can start the car. The car he had been driving didn't have one installed, charging documents said.
Maddy has a pending trial for a 2018 crash, a "nearly identical" incident in which he was fled from a police stop, blew through a stop sign and slammed into another car, according to the prosecuting attorney.
He was charged with vehicular assault and hit-and-run in Snohomish County in that case, and was released without bail in March. A spokesman for the prosecuting attorney's office said he wasn't sure why.
