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DUI charges laid after jogger struck

By Meg Olson

One local resident went to the hospital and the other went to jail after a morning accident on Goodman Road in Maple Beach.

On August 22, local resident Greg Robovsky was returning home during a morning run, coming down the hill towards Maple Beach. Cleaning her yoga studio, Desiree Kleeman, owner of the Maple Meadows Inn, heard tires squealing and ran outside to see Robovsky in the air, his body propelled higher than the street sign.

The driver of the car that hit Robovsky, Jason Howard, 27, remained at the scene. His red 1999 BMW had been traveling down the hill, Kleeman said, before crossing over to the left side of the road, hitting mailboxes and then Robovsky. “That saved Greg’s life, him hitting that mailbox,” Kleeman said.

Several parties, including Kleeman called 911 just after 8 a.m. According to Point Roberts fire chief Bill Skinner volunteer emergency medical technicians from the Point Roberts fire department were dispatched at 8:02 and were on the scene by 8:15. Robovsky was treated, transported to the fire station on Benson Road and air lifted to St. Joseph Hospital in Bellingham at 8:48. As the All Point Bulletin goes to press Robovsky remains in hospital but is expected to recover fully.

Law enforcement did not arrive at the scene of the accident until 8:55: a state patrol trooper and the two local sheriff’s deputies. Howard was arrested at the scene and transported to Whatcom County Jail in Bellingham. The state patrol press memo on the accident reports that drugs and/or alcohol were involved in the crash and that he will face charges of driving under the influence and vehicular assault. His vehicle, its windshield shattered, was impounded.

Kleeman expressed concern with the amount of time it took law enforcement personnel to reach the scene of the accident. “He (Howard) could have just left any time and none of us would have thought to stop him,” she said, with those at the scene focused on caring for the victim. Traffic control at the accident scene was also left to community members for almost an hour.

Trooper Kirk Rudine of the Washington State Patrol said they were contacted by dispatch because their agency takes the lead on injury accidents. “Our first officer arrived on the scene at 8:55 a.m.,” Rudine said. “Our detectives went up too because it’s a vehicular assault.” Skinner said the dispatch report states a trooper was dispatched from the Blaine border at 8:31, and state patrol reported one in custody at 9:17.

Lieutenant Scott Rossmiller of the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) said a dispatch mix-up meant local deputies didn’t know about the accident until the state patrol was crossing the border. “They were at the scene within three minutes of getting the call,” he said. Because it was an injury accident the state patrol was contacted but no one checked to see if local deputies had been called. “Between the two dispatch centers they each thought the other was taking care of it,” he said.

Rossmiller added WCSO had sent traffic specialists to investigate later in the day. “Is there something that needs to be done with the design of the road? Is there something wrong with signage, or did someone make a bad choice regarding speed or intoxicants?” He said their report would make recommendations looking at all of those factors. The hill ends in a sharp corner to the east which is obscured by landscaping and shrubbery.

“The problem with speeding on that hill – especially the dump trucks – is really critical,” said Kleeman. “People have just got to slow down. There are children, cyclists, runners.” Kleeman said she hopes WCSO can make some changes to make the road safer but that it is the responsibility of each driver who uses it to drive with care. “Since my neighbor has lived here she’s seen that mailbox taken out three or four times. My kids wait for the bus there.”