The Vancouver Police Department has found the vehicle and is questioning its 15 year-old driver in yesterday’s hit and run assault of a seven year-old boy.
Here’s the official word:
Vancouver Police Traffic Investigators located a vehicle they believe was involved in yesterday’s hit and run assault of 7 year old Trevor Wagner. Detectives are interviewing a 15 year old male who lives within 2 miles of the crime scene and who is believed to have been the driver. The vehicle, a Nissan Frontier, was located at the residence of the suspect and has damage that corresponds with evidence located at the scene.
Investigators developed a list of registered vehicles that matched the mirror that was found at the scene and began contacting the registered owners at home. The vehicle was located during one of those contacts.
Vancouver Police would like to thank the members of the media for their assistance in getting information out about this case and to members of the community for their vigilance in keeping a lookout for possible vehicles.
Contact Info: Kim Kapp, Vancouver Police Department Public Information Coordinator, (360) 696-8265.
That’s some swift work by the Vancouver P.D.
the kid was 15!!!! holy crap a half! what is a 15 year old snot nosed kid doing behind the wheel of a car let alone a frontier?!?! are the parents being held ofr anything too, like having their 15 year old in the car? i hope he is never allowed to drive again.
Jesus, that’s messed up.
15 is nothing . . . I’ve been hit by a 14 year old who drove her car under the trailer of my semitractor-trailer combo in a shopping center parking lot. the “mom” said the 14-year-old “couldn’t” have been driving because she (the mom) was “in the store with the keys”. Unfortunately for her, a sidewalk full of witnesses — including the shopping center manager — saw the whole thing.
they should throw the book at the PARENTS of this 15-year-old kid.
It has been proven in Vancouver that they will not be holding the parents responsible for anything. Vancouver has a horrible track record for actuallly charging people with crimes, let alone the trickle down of the responsibilities of raising a child.
Last year, I am sure you will recall the Battle ground policeman, who’s son shot his daughter with his WORK gun.
Sadly, these people, I am sure uncluding the 15 year old, will walk away.
I mean, he isn’t even charged yet, and his name isn’t released.
If you or I had done this, we would be sitting in jail as we speak.
Sorry, but on a side note, HOW FUNNY is it that Dr. Mark Ross is actually nothing but a truck driver.
HAHAHA
I don’t why it continues to surprise me how quickly we humans are to judge, and how quickly we make assumptions about what the future holds. Although I think that there are times when parents should be held responsible for the behavior of their children… it has hardly been shown that this is one of those times. Maybe it will be shown and then I’ll be the first to say so.
In response to the accountability situation, as most parents will attest to, in todays working environment it takes two parents to make ends meet, and when both are at work, and a 15 yr old is left at home…what he does when they are not around, is harldy grounds to ” punish ” the parents. if that was the case…and there would be no parents out of jail!!
When a 15 year old has access to your SUV in the early morning, he can get the keys, he can drive it out of the garage, etc… This is the parents responsibility, bar none…….
So, if someone leaves the keys to their New York bike lock on the table at public place and someone picks them up… well you see where I’m going.
Haven’t your kids ever done something similar? My point is that to condemn someone for something before the evidence is made clear is… not fair. And to hold someone else responsible for the behavior of an individual is a delicate, case by case only, circumstance.
Does anyone know of an organization that goes into schools to spread the word of bicycle safety? Maybe with the drivers education division. Moving forward this seems to me to be a positive direction.
Brett,
You asked
It’s called Safe Routes to School and here in Portland it is run by PDOT, the BTA and a host of other key partners. They do tons of work in the schools. I’ll be covering this a lot more in IShareTheRoad.com in the coming school year.
Oh, duh… I’ve seen that site.
But I thought it was more targeted towards the grade/middle school level and getting to school safely. I was thinking about the high school level, and the brand new drivers in that demographic. I’m sure this tragedy will be mined for positive use in the future and I think this would be a good direction. It’s actually something I would devote time too.
Brett,
Please, do you have kids??? If one of mine “yours??” took my car and ran over some kid???….then ran off????? Well, forget that… if my children..or yours “ran over anyone”….”shot some one”….”just punched someone in the nose”…and just ran off???? What if that was your kid, wife, brother or friend and then there is someone like you sticking up for them????? To me, that would be sick!! Who out there hurts someone, then runs off, accident or not?? So Brett, you would devote time??? Sure..if it all went your way, right???
Jim,
Well, first off… not only am I a father, but as of three weeks ago a grandfather, at the wonderful age of 45. So, yes I’m quite qualified to have an informed opinion. If you want to know of my other credentials, just let me know.
Second, you kinda jumped the gun. I never implied that I was “sticking up for them”. What I said has to do with people finding other people guilty before they know all the facts, and with the fact that SOMETIMES parents should be held responsible for the behavior of their children and sometimes they shouldn’t. I am emotionally and spiritually mature enough to know that this is true for the life I live.
Say the 15 y/o in this case is an emancipated minor with a provisional license (that IS possible) and that the “adult” minor broke into the parents house and stole the keys. Would the parents still be, in your opinion, culpable? Legally the answer is no.
As far as the comment goes about how I spend my volunteer time (40 hrs/mth- which is why I must be careful about taking on anything new), Please don’t try to disparage what I do.
But, as always, thanks for giving me the opportunity to practice the written word.
Vancouver Police traffic investigators went so far as to contact owners registered to corresponding vehicles? That is amazing! It would be great if that kind of can-do spirit would catch on with Portland investigators, from what I’ve heard they in many cases lose interest quickly in finding hit-and-run motorists or they claim to not have the “resources.”
Brett, there is a new discussion list for working on improving traffic safety, and early education has been one of the topics discussed. The list homepage is below, but if you don’t want to subscribe but still want to be involved in efforts to raise awareness about dangerous driving then you can get my email addr. from Jonathan.
http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/trafficsafety
Holy Cow! The list was just created a few weeks ago and there are 98 subscribers now.
organic brian said:
I would have to stick up for the Portland traffic crash investigators. These guys are top notch and they take their job very seriously.
To my knowledge they have no outstanding hit-and-run cases…meaning they have solved each and every one of them.
They are also putting much more resources into investigations. This year they are looking into twice as many crashes as in ’05.
In Holland and perhaps other European countries, education and training for safe travel on the roads never stops in school. They start out by teaching safe walking and bicycling skills and progress through safe driving skills as the children get older. It’s light years ahead of similar education programs in the US.
There certainly have been a lot of apprehensions by the Portland Police and for that I’m real thankful. I should have been clear that I was referring to all the times I have heard about a cyclist who was harrassed but there was no actual collision, or if there was a collision no real injury, and the cyclist had a license # and witnesses. In each of these cases the cyclist could not get an investigation to move forward, despite numerous calls to various police department personnel.