Hit and Run victim pleads for witnesses to come forward

MEDICAL LAKE, Wash. — A man hit by a car and left for dead on Sunday, is now pleading that witnesses will come forward.

On Sunday evening around 11:30, Rick Johnson was hit by a car near Exit 272 off Interstate 90 near S Geiger Boulevard. 

It was just your average night when Johnson left his house and headed to the corner store.

“He started walking and got about a block away,” his stepdaughter Rose Wilson explained, “and he decided it was too windy, decided to turn back. At this point, he was walking toward traffic, so he could see what was coming toward him. He turned around and he couldn’t have gotten more than two steps and just doesn’t remember much after that.”

That’s when Rick was struck by a car. The driver of that vehicle did not stop.

“He woke up in the snow thinking he had fallen and hit his head or something,” Wilson said. “He said he went to try to stand up, just sheer agony, horrible.”

Rick suffered multiple serious injuries, including five broken ribs, a broken knee and ankle, and hypothermia. His left femur broke in four places, the bone punctured through his skin.

Rick doesn’t know how long he laid there, and his family thinks it could have been two hours. All rick knows is many cars passed him by before a truck driver finally stopped to help.

The driving conditions on Sunday were poor, and Wilson explained she knows the incident was probably an accident, but she cannot understand why the person didn’t stop.

“I’ve been going over in my head like who could do this, who could leave someone on the side of the road like that,” Wilson said. 

Rose said this is a horrifying reminder of the dangers of winter driving.

“It makes me want to remind people, it doesn’t matter if you’re in the city or where you’re driving, in these conditions we really need to be cautious and just watch.” Wilson said.

So far, no one has come forward in this crime. Rick and his family say they want answers. If you witnessed anything on Sunday night, call Crime Check at (509)456-2233.