A Battle Ground man who was allegedly driving under the influence when he crashed his vehicle, seriously injuring a passenger, made a first appearance in Clark County Superior Court on Friday.
Mike A. Wild, 53, appeared on suspicion of vehicular assault stemming from the June 25 incident.
According to a probable cause affidavit, at about 7 p.m. June 25, Wild was driving a 2006 Jeep Wrangler south in the 24100 block of Northeast 112th Avenue from Northeast 244th Street in Battle Ground when his vehicle drifted off the road. The vehicle traveled about 117 feet before hitting a tree and flipping onto its top.
Responding officers said they didn’t see any evidence that Wild attempted to brake or tried to get back onto the road, court records said.
Clark County sheriff’s Detective Todd Young said he found five unopened bottles of beer on the ground under the Jeep. There was a 12-pack cardboard container inside the vehicle that had one bottle of beer inside it, the affidavit said.
A passenger in Wild’s vehicle, Dmitriy Sveshnikov, told Young he saw Wild consume two or three beers before driving, according to court documents.
Sveshnikov sustained serious injuries in the crash, including brain hemorrhaging and a broken jaw, court records said.
At a local hospital, Wild told an officer that a deer ran out in front of his vehicle, causing him to crash, according to court documents. The officer said he noticed Wild showed signs of impairment and requested a search warrant to test his blood. Wild ran out of the emergency room without any clothes on, court records said.
He was subsequently detained.
Toxicology results from the Washington State Toxicology Laboratory showed Wild had a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.19 percent and a THC content of 6.4 ng/mL at the time of the crash, according to the affidavit.
During his hearing on Friday, Wild told Judge Robert Lewis that he’s sought substance abuse treatment since the crash.
Lewis appointed defense attorney Shon Bogar to represent him and set bail at $10,000.
He is scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 4.
