A 74-year-old man was arrested Friday in a hit-and-run where an RV killed one person in South Seattle’s Rainier View neighborhood.
A witness called police around 10:30 p.m. Thursday to report someone pinned under a vehicle in front of the caller's home in the 11000 block of 68th Avenue South. The driver fled the scene in the vehicle, which also crashed into several parked cars in a driveway.
According to court documents, the man drank about six beers before he drove and struck four vehicles leaving 68th Avenue. Nearby surveillance footage reportedly shows he struck the vehicles and woman without stopping.
The woman, Susana Garcia-Perez, 45, died at the scene.
A single mother of three, Garcia-Perez worked as a housekeeper and was the backbone" of the family, her daughter Nicole Robles Garcia said in an interview. Garcia-Perez often held three jobs and was a devout Christian.
Robles Garcia, 25, of Woodinville, was on the phone with her mother when the crash happened.
"I heard tires screeching, and then I just heard the phone fall, and then I just started screaming her name because I just felt something," Robles Garcia said tearfully. "(I heard) my cousin say, 'There's a body, there's a body,' and then I heard my sister scream, saying 'Mom!' And I just knew that she was gone."
Her brother, Dan Robles Garcia, tried to get his mother from under a Silverado pickup truck but wasn't able to, her daughter said.
"I want her to be remembered as the strong woman that she was," Robles Garcia said. "So focused, so selfless. (She) gave us everything, even if she didn't have anything. She gave us even more than what she could have ever.
The Washington State Patrol issued a public alert for a 1999 White Royal Classic RV with heavy damage on the passenger side. Troopers also released the suspected vehicle's license plate. It was last seen heading south on 68th Avenue South, just outside Seattle city limits.
The RV was spotted around 3:15 p.m. Friday on Interstate 90 near North Bend. Other motorists called 911 and authorities stopped the driver, according to a news release from the King County sheriff's office.
The sheriff's office arrested the man and booked him into King County Jail for investigation of vehicular homicide and/or felony hit-and-run.
The suspect appeared in front of a King County judge Saturday, and a judge set bail at $250,000, said Casey McNerthney, a spokesperson for the prosecutor's office.
The Seattle Times generally names suspects when prosecutors charge them. McNerthney said prosecutors have not formally charged the man, but a decision was expected by Wednesday.
Garcia-Perez's children started a GoFundMe to help with funeral costs. She is survived by two daughters, Nicole and Avril Robles Garcia, and a son, Dan Robles Garcia. She also has several siblings and a granddaughter.
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