Which driver is responsible for the death of a good Samaritan who was struck when he stopped to help the victim of a hit-and-run crash?
Jurors on Thursday heard testimony from one of those drivers during the manslaughter trial for Joshua C. Frahm in Clark County Superior Court.
Frahm, 29, is charged in the Dec. 7, 2014, hit-and-run crash on Interstate 205 and subsequent death of Richard G. Irvine of Camas. He faces charges of vehicular homicide, first-degree manslaughter, vehicular assault, hit-and-run, false reporting and conspiracy to commit first-degree perjury.
Irvine, 63, was mortally injured when he stopped to help the victim of the hit-and-run crash, and was struck when a Honda Odyssey minivan smashed into the disabled vehicle he was assisting.
The minivan’s driver, Fredy Delacruz-Moreno, testified Thursday through a Spanish interpreter that it was Frahm’s carelessness that caused the first crash and led to Irvine’s death.
“I’m not guilty of what’s going on,” Delacruz-Moreno said. “I’m uncomfortable being here.”
According to the prosecution, Frahm was driving a Ford F-150 pickup north on the interstate near Burton Road just before 6 a.m. when he rear-ended a northbound Honda CRV and neither stopped nor reported the collision.
Senior Deputy Prosecutor Kasey Vu said Frahm had been out drinking all night, and multiple witnesses reported seeing the pickup driving erratically on state Highway 14 and I-205 just before the crash.
The impact sent the CRV across all northbound lanes. It crashed into the highway’s center concrete median and stopped in the left northbound lane.
Irvine, who also was driving north, saw the collision and pulled his vehicle onto the right shoulder. He ran to the CRV and called 911. While he was on the phone with dispatchers, Delacruz-Moreno’s minivan struck the passenger’s side of the CRV and pushed it into Irvine.
Delacruz-Moreno testified that it was dark and foggy on the morning of the crashes. He said he didn’t expect to encounter a disabled vehicle stretched across his lane. He, his wife, three sons and two friends were headed from Clackamas, Ore., to Kent for a church service — a trip they made about once a month.
“When you get on a freeway, you expect to see a lot of things,” he said, but a car sitting across the far left lane isn’t one of them, he added.
Delacruz-Moreno said he was traveling in the middle lane of the freeway when he saw a vehicle parked on the right shoulder with its flashers on. He then changed lanes to the left lane, he said, because he worried there may have been something on the right side of the freeway that caused the car to stop.
That’s when he noticed the disabled CRV blocking the left lane, he said. Delacruz-Moreno said he slammed on his brakes and attempted to swerve to the left of the CRV, into the shoulder, but his vehicle struck the back corner of the passenger’s side.
“I didn’t want this to happen,” he said, responding to questions from the defense.
In opening statements, Jeff Barrar of Vancouver Defenders argued that Frahm is not responsible for the second crash and that Delacruz-Moreno should have been paying closer attention.
Delacruz-Moreno has not been charged in connection with the crashes or Irvine’s death.
Also on Thursday, the court excused a juror for medical issues, leaving a panel of 12 and one alternate juror.
Frahm’s trial continues Monday. It is scheduled to run through the week.
