Court documents released Monday are offering more details about what happened in a Hillyard parking lot when three homeless people were struck by a 24-year-old driver whose car jumped a curb. One person was killed and two others were seriously injured Sunday morning. Complaint documents show that Moen was impaired at the time of the crash.
The documents say one of the victims told police that a silver sedan struck him and two other people he was sitting with around 7:30 a.m. He went into the nearby Safeway store to get help and ran into an off-duty firefighter who grabbed a medical kit from his truck and immediately went to give help to those injured. Another witness came out of the store and told responding officers that she saw the vehicle was unoccupied, then went to help the off-duty firefighter.
That witness helped the firefighter for about four minutes before she saw someone, later identified as the driver, Brittney Moen, come out of the store. The witness asked Moen what happened and according to the documents, Moen told her that her car's alignment was off and when she went over a speed bump, her car went up on the sidewalk.
Documents also state that a Safeway security guard was notified about the collision, and checked the Safeway's security camera footage to see if it captured the crash. The security guard told police that the crash was not caught on camera, but that security cameras did show the woman enter the store immediately following the collision and go toward the bathroom. The documents say the woman did not alert anyone in the store that she needed help as she was making her way to the bathroom, where she stayed for about four minutes, according to the documents. The security guard made a copy of the footage and gave it to investigators.
According to the documents, Moen told detectives on scene Sunday morning that she was going about 10 mph when the crash happened. The detective also spoke with the two victims hurt before they were taken to the hospital.
The documents say Moen was then taken to the Public Safety Building where a certified Drug Recognition Expert with the Spokane Police Department conducted an investigation to determine if impairment was a factor in the crash. The documents state that the officer did not see any signs of impairment at the time of the evaluation. Moen was then placed under arrest for two counts of vehicular assault and one count of vehicular homicide. After placing her under arrest, she was searched and the drug recognition expert found what he recognized as drug paraphernalia on her person. Around 11:30 a.m. the officer got a search warrant and took blood samples from the driver. He also collected the driver's cell phone as evidence, according to the documents.
Traffic collision investigators determined Sunday, according to the documents, that there was no evidence that the driver tried to stop or slow down prior to slamming into the wall of the Subway restaurant. The traffic investigator also determined that the driver had to be traveling at a speed "much faster" than the 10 mph Moen said she was going at the time of the crash.
Moen made her first appearance in court Monday. She's being held on $50,000 bond.
(story: Matt Pusatory, KHQ Local News Web Producer; photo: Katie Chen, KHQ.com)