Buckley resident to be sentenced for August traffic fatality

Buckley resident Ryan R. Bogue will be sentenced July 26 for his role in an August traffic fatality.

Bogue, who was 18 at the time of the crash, pleaded guilty May 30 to both vehicular homicide and failure to remain at the scene of an accident involving a death.

Bogue was behind the wheel of a 2009 Pontiac G6 shortly after 1 a.m. Aug. 3, 2011, traveling east on 112th Street East. His vehicle veered from the two-lane road that runs parallel to state Route 410 and struck a power pole.

His 17-year-old passenger, Traevon Norton, was ejected from the vehicle. With his friend either near death or already deceased, Bogue fled the scene. Instead of calling 911, Bogue called friends and asked to be picked up in Buckley and taken to Enumclaw’s St. Elizabeth Hospital, where he could be treated for injuries sustained in the accident. Police soon located Bogue at St. Elizabeth.

According to charging papers, Bogue had alcohol in his blood stream, along with controlled substances found in prescribed depressants and the active ingredient found in marijuana. A whiskey bottle was reportedly found in his car.

Papers indicate Bogue told police he had consumed three beers, was traveling about 45 miles per hour and crashed because he swerved to miss three deer in the roadway.

A different story was told by investigators who downloaded information from the airbag control module in the Pontiac. It showed Bogue was driving 86 miles per hour five seconds before the crash; the car’s brake was activated three seconds before the accident; and the vehicle slowed to 70 just two seconds before the crash when the anti-lock brake system activated. At the time of the impact, investigators determined, the car was traveling at 57 mph in an area where the posted speed limit is 35.

Officers noted the Pontiac was nearly torn in half during impact.

 

Contact Enumclaw Courier Herald Senior Writer, Editor Kevin Hanson at editor@courierherald.com or 360-802-8205.

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