Victim, mom want driver off the road

Kayla Burleson, 17, of Battle Ground sits on the hood of her 1997 Toyota RAV4, which was totaled Sept. 14 by an allegedly drunken driver who ran a red light and fled the scene. She suffered a concussion and painful bruises. (N. SCOTT TRIMBLE/ The Columbian)

Should 30-year-old Aleksey V. Svobodin be allowed to drive on Vancouver’s streets?

Sheri Thomas doesn’t think so, and neither do the police.

Eight days ago, Svobodin ran a red light and collided with Thomas’ daughter’s car, according to a Vancouver Police Department report.

The impact totaled the girl’s car and left her with a concussion and internal bruises to her chest.

Svobodin then drove away and was arrested nearby, with the help of a witness who followed him; he was intoxicated, police say.

“The whole thing is making me very angry,” said Thomas, who lives in Battle Ground. “I do not want him out driving again. That’s how it should have been in the first place.”
Vancouver police agree.

The report said Svobodin’s license was suspended when he caused the crash, so he had no legal right to be driving.

After the collision, Svobodin was taken to the Clark County Jail on suspicion of DUI, driving with a suspended license and reckless endangerment of his own daughter, 12, who was found in his car along with bottles of booze, police say.

Thomas’ daughter, Kayla Burleson, 17, still feels the effects of the crash.

“I’m doing fine but my shoulder hurts pretty bad, and my collarbone,” she said. “I just need to get back to work, probably in the next week or so.”

Burleson, a high school and cosmetology student, was working two jobs to get by before the crash.

She now has a battered car sitting in a tow lot, plus missed work days, doctor bills and the pain.

The high schooler said Svobodin showed no sense of responsibility for his conduct, especially in light of his daughter being in the car when he’d allegedly been drinking alcohol.

“I think it’s really sad,” Burleson said. “He doesn’t have insurance. He’s teaching his daughter, who’s 12 years old, that it’s OK to do something bad and leave without claiming that as something you did wrong.”

Public records show that Svobodin was convicted of drunken driving in Clark County in 2003 and driving with a suspended license last year.

Svobodin, 2412 N.E. 138th Ave., was being held on $40,000 bail Sunday and is to appear in District Court on Sept. 30. Officials with the city attorney’s office have not yet decided what charges they may file, an employee said.

The Columbian was unable to reach Svobodin in the jail for comment.

9:43 p.m. Sept. 14

Police and witnesses say Burleson was driving north, heading home in her green 1997 Toyota RAV4. She stopped at a red light at Northeast Gher and Fourth Plain roads in Orchards.

When the light turned green, “I started to go through the intersection,” she said.
She saw Svobodin’s 1994 Saturn approaching westbound.

“He was coming really fast and I just figured he was going to stop,” she said. “He had a red light. Next thing I knew he was right in front of me. I T-boned him on the driver’s side.

“I really didn’t know what to think,” Kayla said. “I was really shocked. Two or three ladies jumped out of their cars to get me out of mine.”

She added: “Next thing I knew, (Svobodin’s) tires were squealing and he was taking off. I had to kick my car door open, because it was jammed shut. I grabbed my cell phone and called 911.”

Witness Patrick Latimer, 30, who was driving near Burleson, heard the crash.

“I looked to my right and saw him spinning,” he said, adding that he veered to avoid being hit by the Saturn.

Latimer told police he followed the Saturn a short distance and saw him turn into the parking lot of the Subway sandwich shop at 5620 Gher.

Knowing that some Washington State Patrol troopers were having supper in the shop, Latimer said he sent his stepson, Trent Walton, 18, inside to alert them.

Latimer said he then walked to the Saturn, which was parked with Svobodin, looking panicked, inside.

“Basically, it looked like he was trying to sit there and hide,” Latimer said. “I asked him if he was OK. I told him he needed to go back to the intersection where the accident happened. He said, ‘I know, I know.’’ ”

That’s when the troopers walked up, smelled alcohol on Svobodin’s breath and arrested him, police said.

John Branton: 360-735-4513 or john.branton@columbian.com.