UPDATE: Michael Alan Huston was sentenced Jan. 4, 2019, in Clark County Superior Court to 43 months in prison after pleading guilty to possession of a stolen motor vehicle and possession of Xanax, according to court records.
Clark County sheriff’s deputies arrested a driver Wednesday who allegedly struck a Hazel Dell Walmart employee with a stolen vehicle.
Michael Alan Huston, 23, was arrested on suspicion of felony hit-and-run, possession of a stolen car and drug possession. He was also booked into Clark County Jail on an arrest warrant issued by the state Department of Corrections, according to a Clark County Sheriff’s Office news release.
Deputies were dispatched about 1 p.m. Wednesday for the report of a hit-and-run crash at the store, 9000 N.E. Highway 99.
Callers reported that a vehicle had hit an employee and then the store before its driver ran from the crash on foot. License plate information provided to 911 by witnesses returned a report about a stolen car.
The first deputy to arrive at the store spotted a vehicle stopped just in front of its entrance. The car had hit a holiday donation bucket and bags of pellets that were stacked on a pallet, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Shoppers began approaching the deputy immediately. One man showed the deputy a cellphone video of a man running and jumping over a fence behind the store, according to the affidavit.
The deputy interviewed Roberts K. Harris, the 81-year-old Walmart greeter who was pushing carts into an entrance when a car slowly rolled into him.
“(Harris) could see the vehicle approaching him in the corner of his eye and quickly ran away to avoid being hit,” the affidavit says. “The vehicle struck Roberts in the right hip and he said he felt a sensation of pain.”
Harris initially declined medical attention but was later taken to the hospital for treatment of minor injuries as a precaution.
A Salvation Army bell ringer who was feet away from the crash said the driver was looking downward like he was on his phone, according to the affidavit. The ringer told deputies he yelled at the man who got out of the car; the suspect allegedly “freaked out” before running away, the affidavit says.
Witnesses provided a detailed description of the suspect, who deputies caught up with on Interstate 5. Huston was leaning on a jersey barrier that separates the opposing lanes of freeway traffic. He was taking his rest on the freeway between Northeast 78th and 99th streets, deputies said.
Huston “appeared to be sleeping or passed out on the barrier, and a struggle ensued in the narrow center median to detain the subject,” the sheriff’s office said.
During the arrest, a deputy suffered minor injuries that did not requirement medical treatment.
Deputies subdued Huston and reportedly gave him a dose of Narcan, an opioid antagonist that’s used to revive people overdosing on opioids, which is now commonly used by first-responders and law enforcement. Huston was taken to a hospital for treatment of a possible overdose.
Once he was released from the hospital, Huston told a deputy “he used heroin before the incident and was unaware of anything,” the affidavit says.
Clark County Superior Court Judge Gregory Gonzales set Huston’s bail at $20,000 Thursday during a first appearance hearing. An arraignment hearing was set for Dec. 27.
Anyone with additional information on this incident should contact Deputy Jack Phane at jack.phane@clark.wa.gov.
