Hit And Run Driver Has History Of DUIs

SPOKANE — A Spokane Valley mother is outraged after finding out that the driver who allegedly ran over her son over the weekend has a suspended driver’s license and several DUI convictions.

Ty Chapman, 22, was critically injured Sunday when he was hit by a Chevy Blazer at Mission and Herald just a few blocks from his home.

The suspected driver who hit him has been identified as Greg Sutton, who already has two DUI convictions and may have been trying to avoid a third when he allegedly drove away from this collision with a pedestrian.

To make matters worse Ty Chapman’s mother lost her fiancé to a drunk driver just last year.

Ty moved to Spokane recently to help raise his little brother Travis after Travis’ dad was killed by a drunk driver in California. Sunday night Chapman  was walking along Mission Avenue with a friend when a Chevy Blazer veered across the fog line and ran into Chapman.

“The vehicle came up from behind and struck Mr. Chapman from behind and continued on down Mission,” Spokane County Deputy Jack Rosenthal said.

Chapman’s friend gave police a description of the car and deputies found it parked in front of a home just eight blocks away.

“We collected the evidence after measuring the scene I took those pieces of the vehicle that were left behind at the scene and compared them to the vehicle that we found and they fit precisely,” Deputy Rosenthal said.

Deputies then arrested Sutton, who denies driving on that part of Mission that night saying he took a different route home so he could buy some cigarettes at a convenience store.

Sutton, a convicted drug dealer, has on his conditions of release from prison that he not drink alcohol or drive with out a license.

Investigators say he was doing both he night Chapman sustained was hit and suffered severe brain injuries, both of which would be violations of his parole.