HOQUIAM, Wash. (AP) - Prosecutors have charged a 31-year-old man with manslaughter in connection with a hit-and-run that killed a man celebrating his birthday at a Grays Harbor County campground.
James Walker of Hoquiam was ordered held on $750,000 bail in Grays Harbor County District Court Wednesday. He is also facing charges of vehicular assault and hit-and-run.
Authorities had been searching for Walker since Saturday when witnesses said a pickup truck driver intentionally ran over two people at a campground on the Humptulips River.
The sheriff’s office says 20-year-old Jimmy Smith-Kramer of Tahola died at a hospital. Nineteen-year-old Harvey Anderson of Aberdeen was treated at a hospital and released.
Both are members of the Quinault Indian Nation. The tribe issued a statement from a witness that the driver was yelling racial slurs.
But Grays Harbor County Prosecutor Katie Svoboda told the Seattle Times (https://bit.ly/2ropM4v) Wednesday that hate-crime elements in any of the charges against Walker were unlikely.
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Information from: The Seattle Times, https://www.seattletimes.com
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