The Kenmore woman accused of hitting and killing a man with a pickup truck Monday told police she was trying to light a cigarette at the time of the accident.
Sydney Katelane Jones, 24, was charged with felony hit-and-run today in the death of Kenmore resident Joseph David Humphreys. She was released from King County Jail on $25,000 bail.
Jones does not have a valid driver’s license in Washington state and reported to Court Services that she is attending out-patient substance abuse treatment.
She is accused of hitting Humphreys, 31, after midnight on Monday while “driving to the store,” south in the 18400 block of 62nd Ave. NE. Humphreys was also walking south on the side of the Kenmore street, which has no sidewalks. Jones allegedly struck Humphreys with the front right side of the truck, causing damage to the hood of the vehicle, front headlight and side mirror, according to court documents.
Jones called 911 at approximately 1:26 a.m. to report that she was out walking her dog and found an unconscious man on the side of the road. She stated that the “body was all twisted and looked like he was hit by a car because she could see car parts on the ground,” the documents continue.
Humphreys was pronounced dead at the scene by emergency personnel.
Jones spoke with a deputy and never identified herself as the driver of the truck that struck the man. The deputy told Jones she was no longer needed at the scene and she walked home.
Police used a part number from some of the debris found at the scene to identify the vehicle that hit Humphreys as a Ford F-150 pickup truck.
Detectives received a phone call at 1:34 p.m. from Jones’s mother advising that her daughter may have been involved in the accident. Jones and her mother then went to Kenmore City Hall, where she turned herself in to police. She told police she was “probably driving a little faster than she should have. She was lighting her cigarette when she felt a bump. She looked up and did not see anything.”
Jones continued on to the store where she accidentally hit a light pole.
“She got out of the truck and saw the damage. She thought that it was a lot of damage for a little hit,” the documents continue. After returning home she went for a walk to see what she had hit in the road.
She said that after hearing media reports that police were looking for a Ford truck “it made sense to her that she was the one.”
Jones lived in Arizona from 2011 until March of this year, when she began living with her parents in Kenmore.
She has no known criminal history but did receive a speeding ticket in December of 2008 and a traffic violation for following too close in December of 2010, according to court documents.
Jones will be arraigned on Nov. 7 at King County Superior Court.
