Homeless man killed had ‘reasonable expectation’ of not being run over
Sep 15, 2016, 8:33 AM | Updated: 8:52 am

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray declared a state of emergency over the homeless crisis in 2015 (AP)
(AP)
The 33-year-old man accused of veering off an I-5 exit ramp and killing a homeless man sleeping in a tent is being held on $250,000 bail after a judge found probable cause to hold him on vehicular homicide and felony hit-and-run.
The man, who police say fled the scene and returned to his Capitol Hill apartment after the crash, is expected to be formally charged today. But will the homicide charge stick?
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The driver told police he had two to three beers and two shots before driving. The 19-year-old in the tent, meanwhile, was camping in a place where he shouldn’t have been, ³ÉÈËXÕ¾ Radio’s Dave Ross points out. Former Attorney General Rob McKenna says the illegal camping probably won’t matter in court.
“Imagine that the victim had been on the side of the road changing a flat tire and the driver left the road and struck him,” McKenna said. “(The driver) would be liable then.”
The incident occurred at a homeless camp in a greenbelt along I-5 at the exit to 50th Street in the University District. The piece of land is located between the freeway and the exit to 45th and 50th Streets. The car left the exit ramp and entered into the greenbelt, traveling up the grassy hill and into the tent, before crashing into a tree.
There were at least three tents set up at the encampment. There are hundreds of unauthorized camps that have popped up on vacant land, along freeways and in neighborhoods throughout Seattle. The tents are familiar sights to drivers along I-5 in Seattle.
Things would be different for the driver of the Jetta if, for example, a tire blew out and the man lost control of the vehicle, McKenna says.
“That would be a tragic accident,” McKenna added.
But police have not indicated there were problems with the car. And although the homeless man was in an area where he shouldn’t have been camping, he still has a “reasonable expectation” of not being run over, McKenna says.