A Longview man who rolled his pickup, injuring his teenage passenger, Saturday on Interstate 5 and then allegedly left the crash scene appeared to be intoxicated, investigators say.
Landon Sexsmith, 19, appeared Monday in Clark County Superior Court on suspicion of hit-and-run resulting in injury. His bail was set at $10,000, and he is scheduled to be arraigned March 18.
Washington State Patrol troopers responded at about 5:15 p.m. to a rollover crash on southbound I-5 near Milepost 20. Troopers arrived to find a black pickup heavily damaged in the median. They also found several beer cans around the pickup, according to a probable cause affidavit.
AMR personnel were securing a passenger, identified in a State Patrol crash memo as a 14-year-old Longview boy, to a backboard. Troopers said the boy appeared to have significant injuries to his face. The boy was taken to Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland.
A witness told troopers the pickup was speeding and appeared to be racing another car before the crash, according to court records. When the pickup went onto the shoulder to pass traffic, the driver lost control and the truck rolled.
Another witness told troopers they heard the driver say, “I don’t have insurance. I need to get out of here.” The driver, later identified as Sexsmith, was then picked up by someone else in a truck and left the crash, court records state.
Clark County sheriff’s deputies notified troopers they had stopped the truck with Sexsmith inside near Milepost 18. A sheriff’s sergeant said Sexsmith appeared to be intoxicated, according to the affidavit.
A trooper wrote in the affidavit that Sexsmith’s eyes were bloodshot and watery, and there was a strong odor of alcohol coming from him, during an interview at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver. The crash memo states Sexsmith was not injured.
Sexsmith allegedly told the trooper he had one beer four hours prior. He also said he lost control of the truck while shifting gears and that the pickup rolled seven times, court records state.
