Police Say Teen Was Texting, Drinking, High
Posted: 11:31 am PST January 4, 2010Updated: 7:01 pm PST January 4, 2010
The victim’s wife reported 54-year-old Mark Christian as missing Friday night after he did not return home after his nightly walk.
An officer checking the Arroyo Park area where the man usually walked found a van with recent damage to its windshield, police said.
Upon running a check on the van’s license plate, the officer discovered the van was recently reported stolen.
At about 10:15 p.m., an officer found the body of a man on the side of the road at Chuckanut Drive and Sea Pines Road who was later identified at the missing person, Bellingham police reported.
The focus of the investigation turned to the stolen van police believed was connected to the pedestrian’s death.
Mark Christian was killed while walking on Chuckanut Drive in Bellingham when he was struck by a vehicle.
Police said the owner of the van told officers that his son had sent him a text message earlier that night saying the van had been stolen. The owner then called police.
Police said throughout Friday night and the Saturday morning, the man’s 18-year-old son, Sean Crissy, told friends he had been involved in a crash.
After Crissy was taken into custody Saturday afternoon, police said the teen told officers he had been driving the van and texting when he hit the pedestrian. He also said he had been drinking and was “tripping” on mushrooms, police said.
Crissy allegedly told police that after the crash he drove the van to Arroyo Park, sent a text message to his father that said the van had been stolen and then walked away.
The boy was booked into the Whatcom County Jail on charges of suspicion of vehicular homicide.
Crissy flashed a peace sign to his friends who filled the observation room at the Whatcom County Courthouse during his first court appearance Monday.
Crissy’s friends said substance abuse has been a problem for the high school senior.
Police said the hit-and-run was the result of a combination of bad choices that ended in a man’s death.
“Texting, drinking, taking hallucinogenics, any one of those factors in and of themselves is a hazardous position to be put in when you’re driving and for pedestrians. When you add the three of them together this victim had no chance to survive this,” said Mark Young with Bellingham police.
Crissy’s bail was set at $400,000.
Christian is survived by a wife and two children.