A driver suspected of striking and killing a worker on a Clark County litter crew, then driving away, pleaded not guilty Friday to vehicular homicide and felony hit-and-run.
Matthew S. Purifoy, 33, of Portland is charged with both vehicular homicide intoxication and vehicular homicide reckless driving in connection with the death of Anita Walters, 57, who was struck Dec. 8 on a sidewalk. The results of toxicology tests may determine which charge goes forward, said Purifoy’s attorney, Chris Ramsay. Those results are not yet available from the Washington State Patrol crime lab, he said.
“The preliminary result for alcohol (from a test conducted at the hospital) was, he was under the legal limit, but we need the full toxicology test results to know the full picture,” Ramsay said.
Judge Barbara Johnson tentatively scheduled Purifoy’s trial for Feb. 9. A few members of Purifoy’s family, including his mother, were present for the hearing.
Purifoy is accused of driving erratically through Vancouver, striking Walters with his car on the sidewalk of Northeast Andresen Road just north of Northeast Vancouver Mall Drive, then fleeing.
Purifoy has a criminal history of reckless driving, hit-and-run, and driving under the influence this year, and hit-and-run and bail-jumping in 2013, said Deputy Prosecutor Rebecca Warren.
Several callers to 911 reported at about 11:15 a.m. that a maroon Monte Carlo with damage to the left rear taillight was driving recklessly on Interstate 205 northbound from Portland. The vehicle first struck a small white pickup on the northbound span of the Interstate 205 Bridge and kept going.
The Monte Carlo’s driver appeared to be falling asleep, veering from side-to-side and drooling, according to an affidavit by Vancouver police Detective Wally Stefan.
One witness followed the driver and switched on the hazard lights on his vehicle, Stefan wrote.
From I-205, the suspect took state Highway 500 west and struck a light pole on the highway before exiting onto Northeast Andresen Road, according to Washington State Patrol Trooper Will Finn. He traveled north on Andresen at about 60 mph, swerving back and forth in the northbound and southbound lanes before driving on the sidewalk on the east side of the road just north of Northeast Vancouver Mall Drive, where two county litter crew members were walking.
He narrowly missed one but struck Walters with his vehicle. Walters died at the scene.
The driver then continued north for a short distance before crashing the car into a retaining wall near 58th Street. Vancouver police took him into custody. Vancouver police Officer Rick Rich said the suspect smelled of alcohol and that his speech was slurred.
Purifoy told police he was unaware that his vehicle had struck and killed Walters, court papers say.
Walters is the 36th person killed in a Clark County traffic crash this year. She was serving on the work crew in order to fulfill the conditions of a District Court sentence.
Purifoy remains in the Clark County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail.
