Deputies: Passenger dies in Clark Co. crash, driver leaves scene
BRUSH PRAIRIE, Wash. -- Clark County sheriff’s deputies found the driver who they said left the scene of a deadly crash that killed a passenger outside of Brush Prairie, Wash. Tuesday morning.
Someone called 911 just after 6 a.m. to report the crash near 26400 Northeast Rawson Road.
According to Sgt. Duncan Hoss, a vehicle crashed into a tree. Deputies found Mikhail L. Golovach, 18, dead inside the vehicle when they arrived. The driver was gone.
At around 7:30 a.m., deputies said they found a man with obvious injuries near Larch Mountain. Yuri V. Tasmaly, 18, was taken to a hospital. Sgt. Fred Neiman said Tasmaly was later arrested on charges of hit-and-run, vehicle theft and vehicular homicide.
To people questioning this guy's "negligible" actions:  look at the crime scene photos, the crash was feet from a home, a very obvious way to contact police.  FOUL PLAY!!!!! So sad for all of the families involved, the driver has messed up so many lives, for what?  It was not worth it, by any means. Â
Sorry i just had to reply because I'm reading the comments and everyone is saying the car was probably stolen from the lot because it had the Kuni plates.
from what i know (from facebook posts of the drivers cousin) the car was a friends. they called him early in the morning asking to take his car, he was sleeping and wasn't answering so they went to his house thinking its okay just to take it. when the friend woke up and saw the car gone he called and reported it stolen. so yes, technically car was stolen, but not from the dealer or some stranger, they new the owner of the BMW.
well i guess they dont teach you how to drive a car or follow the rules after an accident in russia! time to deport this clown!
I live right down the street from the accident and the kind Sheriff I spoke with said that the young driver "ran" from the scene. Pretty telling to me. The car still had the Kuni sign from the dealer as the back plate. Those who live on or near this road travel it safely. Most of the accidents around here are caused by out-of-towners going way too fast. I'm glad that this didn't happen while kids were waiting for the school bus.  Â
@kcon75Â
"RAN" Why would someone crashed their own car??? Risked their own life??? it's just nonsense.  Stupidity, the only thing I can think that caused this crash.
@sophie.smith According to the Columbian, the car was stolen, the driver was under the influence and his license was suspended. I suppose he figured he was in some deep sh$:! Plus, he went up Rawson, there aren't many houses up there, just forest land. He went to hide. There are several houses right around where he crashed.
I have to agree with Sophie. There is NO way the driver wasn't in shock after the accident. Blunt force trauma to the head causes all sorts of crazy stuff to sane and sober people.
Not to say he wasn't driving like an idiot though.
S/He probably was confused or shocked and went to look for some help. Let's not criticize, but wait and see what the outcome will be.
Sorry for the families loss.
Even if they find the guy who killed this man, he wont get a measure 11 mandatory sentence or even have to register for the rest of his life. Hypocrite voters
@Trickledown cuckoo.
@Van Tucko @Trickledown First of all... they did find the driver 1.5 hrs later near Larch Mountain. He at Hospital and will be arrested when released for vehicular homicide, duii, driving with a suspended licence, auto theft, felony hit and run, etc. Him and the driver were both 18. This is in Clark County... in Washington... so we don't have "Measure 11". That's an Oregon thing. Judging by there names I think they were Russian or Eastern European decent. So they were probably joyriding the stolen car before it got chop shopped. That's my thoughts. More info at the Columbian.com
I would say speed and that corner were too much too fast.. Sorry for the families loss.
Way too many hit and runs lately...but my first thought is that the driver surely was in shock.
I've come across accidents before and have seen drivers in shock, they have no idea whats going on, it's very surreal.
@deejm2112Â Been there, done that. Â Speaking from experience, when a person is truly in shock, you can't react to anything. Â You just sorta sit / lie there, seeing and hearing things, but totally unable to react. Â As for this driver, the fact that s/he was able to get out and move away (run/walk/crawl...whatever..) means it is fairly unlikely was in any true major physical state of shock -- emotionally? intellectually? scared spitless? perhaps. Â But, my guess is, he knew he was on the wrong side of the law and instinctively tried to distance himself from the event... but, you can't out run a Motorola and stay very invisible for long.
Unfortunately, people in shock do walk away from accidents... many times, they don't survive. Others survive, but with no recollection of what happened, end up as missing persons. Then there are those who are found and recieve the medical care they need.
i head this call come in and it was heard not seen at the time the call came in.. and a off duty vpd was the first person.. there were screams and crying out for help said the dispatcher.. and when the off duty VPD got there the driver was gone.. i thought at the time shock.. and the passages was already DOA.. all the police & fire all got there fast and worked like hard to get it cleaned up and taken care of .. since listening to the scanner i have a new found respect for the men and women who work to keep Vancouver going.. they really do care.. at the same time there was a fire in an apartment and also a person who had stopped breathing so three things in different parts of Vancouver.. the Dispatchers and everyone i have so much respect for.. words can not really explain how great they all are ... they all work together without ego's . each department all come together and help and try very hard to make sure Vancouver is protected and medical help is there as fast as it can.. i for one and very thankful to them.. each and every day ....
@Steve Snedlecker  It must be hard to do those jobs. Seeing so much pain, suffering and death each and every day would take it toll. Be sure and tell those first responders how much you appreciate them as often as you can.
BMW M3. Nice car when driven responsibly. Poor coffin when driven by drunk idiots (or sober idiots for that matter).Â
Once again the wrong person died.
Lower the speed limit to 5 MPH and save lives
@Bert Thing is most don't follow the speed limits on that road ever and its a dangerous road.. especially if you don't know the roads. Add being at night.... probably drunk... speeding... its amazing the driver survived.
BMW Bent Mangled Wreck
Oh...lookie another mysterous car crash that killed another driver....there must be some way to blame this on cyclists or pedestrians. Perhaps, because joggers and cyclists consume so much air. The only thing that is certain is that drivers are the most dangerous things on the roadway so much so that even people "safely" bucked in and driving around in state of the art safety cages cannot be protected; think of the danger that irresponsible drivers represent to pedestrians and cyclists.
Condolences for the family.
@Icarus
It was a cyclist, honest. Rode right out in front of me.Â
Drunk? No I was not drinking. Well maybe ONE beer. No i was high, does marijuana count? Yes, then yes I was high too, but i was not driving, the guy in the passenger seat was? Buckled in? You sure?
The person who did this will find reasons why they are not responsible. I hope they didn't like the passenger because obviously they don't respect them.Â
@KATUNews what a coward
As of now, (9AM) there's too little information as far as whether the driver was driving impaired or not, but from the looks of that car I think speed was a factor. Condolences to the family of the passenger.
Just want to mention, it's totally possible the driver could have sustained a head injury and wandered off in confusion. Let's not call it "running off and leaving the passenger to die" just yet
Now, the speeding of course, another matter entirely.
@WhenCowsAttack
10:00 and no information about the driver.Â
It would be nice but what you are supposing is becoming a diminishing possibility.Â
Nothing at noon either!
@WhenCowsAttack You know I thought when I read this wouldn't it be nice if this person was trying to get help for the passenger, not just running away. I guess you should always hope someone will do the right thing.
That's a hilly, winding road with really limited visibility. People like to drive fast on it all the time, even though there are a lot of residential side-roads and driveways to ensure that someone's going to pull out in front of you suddenly.
Unfortunately, the passenger paid the full price for the idiocy of the driver.
Brush Prairie?? Far from it...this is 5 miles east of Hockinson...
@ESchmitt The mailing address would still be Brush Prairie.
@richXXIIIÂ @ESchmitt It's technically Brush Prairie still.
Stupidity kills. Â Try not to be a victim.
Hit-and-runs are pretty cowardly anyway, but leaving your passenger to die in your car is just beyond cold and callous. I'd bet money that when the police find this guy he'll say he left the scene to find help, and it just took several hours to find it, or that he had some sort of head injury that made him forget his friend.. There's always an excuse. The best excuse I ever heard from a guy I arrested years ago was, "The guy was dead, so there wasn't anything I could do, and it doesn't do anyone any good for me to go to jail."
Maybe the driver WAS looking for help.Â
@oh4FS  It would have been faster to just look for his or his dead friend's cell phone. With a car like that, you know that they both had them. Of course, he might have had to see his dead friend and maybe even touch him so that was out of the question.
Drunk drivers are the worst! Zero regard for other people. Such selfish behavior.Â
@washcomom i don't understand.... where in this article does it mention anything about the driver being drunk? or is this just a general statement?
@lalady The follow up to this shows washcomom was right (as we suspected). The driver was drunk and has a history of driving drunk.
http://www.columbian.com/news/2013/mar/06/teen-accused-hockinson-vehicular-homicide-appears-/
@scared_citizen @lalady i'll repeat what i said above: "okay- pats on the backs all around, but that wasn't my point. oh well."
@lalady @washcomom  While it is NOT stated, wrecks like this (especially in the early morning hours) have an extremely high likelyhood of having an intoxicated driver. The odds are definitely in washcomom's favor.
deport!.........    next
@Liberty4_WA @lalady @jpk okay- pats on the backs all around, but that wasn't my point. oh well.Â
@lalady@jpkEveryone's assumptions were right. "Yuri Tasmaly, 18, of Vancouver faces charges of vehicular homicide, felony hit and run and vehicle theft. Additional charges of driving under the influence of intoxicants and driving with a suspended license were referred to the Clark County Prosecutorâs Office, the sheriffâs office said in a news release."
@jpk what do you "know" by way of guessing and assuming?Â
@lalady @scared_citizen Welcome aboard!Â
If we had to wait for actual facts, we may never know. The media will move on to the next "shock" story!
@lalady @scared_citizen @washcomom Yes, this a comment board. We do not have to wait for facts.
@scared_citizen @lalady @washcomom that may be all true... i just don't understand why everyone gets all worked up without any facts, and then personal feelings, hunches, ramblings and tangents get passed on like fact and everything snowballs into personal soapbox statements. i guess it's just the way this board community works?Â
@washcomom Yup. And the worst part of that is they KNOW it is dangerous and illegal.  To get behind the wheel after pounding brewskis is really beyond selfish and cowardly. There really isn't any excuse for it in this day and age.  Many other countries have much stiffer penalties for drunks drivers -- even for first time offenders.  I also think that we should do the same.  To start, just having the fines proportionate to the offender's income (as Sweden does) and also mandatory confiscation of the offender's vehicle. Â
I say this from personal experience. Â I was on the receiving end of a DUI driver once, and that experience left me jaded for life. Habitual / repeat offenders just keep 'doing their thing' while thumbing their nose at the system and all the rest of us responsible drivers on the road. Â Well, to hell with them. Â Throw the book (and the hammer) at them.