West Seattle Crime Watch followup: Guilty plea in deadly crash

| Crime | Delridge | West Seattle news

One Saturday night in July of last year, a pickup truck sped through a red light on southbound Delridge Way at Kenyon, hit an SUV (its wreckage is at right), and rolled. 43-year-old Michael Fisher was thrown from the truck and died at the scene; another passenger was hurt, as was the SUV’s driver. The pickup’s under-the-influence driver, 44-year-old William Edmon, was arrested that night and has since pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide and reckless endangerment. We just discovered it in a periodic check of ongoing case files; the plea was entered in late May. Edmon has a long record, as reported here when he was charged last year, including 13 instances of driving with a suspended license, three DUI cases, and cases including inattentive driving, ignition-interlock violation, reckless driving, property destruction, harassment, hit-and-run, malicious mischief, plus several “failure to appear” charges along the way. Because of his record, prosecutors are recommending a prison sentence that would total 160 months – just over 13 years – with 72 of those months as a “DUI enhancement.” The sentencing is scheduled for July 25th, postponed from a date last month so the victim’s relatives can be present.

Ray July 9, 2014 (6:58 pm)

This is frustrating. He is a repeat, repeat offender, has violations where he consciously tried to override enforcement of his penalties, and has now ended up killing a person. And he is only going to get 13 years? Sadly, armed robberies where no one gets hurt result in longer sentences. This guys should be locked away for life. He is not responsible enough for himself and is a constant and ongoing danger to everyone else.

biankat July 9, 2014 (8:43 pm)

Agree with you, Ray. Tragic.

Townie July 9, 2014 (10:25 pm)

I’m with Ray–I vote this derelict off the island. My sincere sympathies to the families devastated by this tragic event.

AG July 9, 2014 (10:27 pm)

I say this with a lot of empathy for the disease of addiction as it runs in my family. Some addicts harm themselves and their families in less severe ways, though it also takes its toll.

But those who repeatedly drive under the influence, seriously hurt or kill people while doing so, over and over, and totally resist treatment — there HAS to be a better way to keep the community safe. I wonder if there could be some sort of a system whereby those most likely to reoffend could be monitored more closely. I’m just brainstorming, and know this is a seed of an idea that would need a HUGE amount of work, but what if we could identify those who are certain to continue to cause harm and mandate that the last portions of their sentences be served in intensive rehabs? What if we actually treated them for the addiction once they’d done the majority of their time?

To be ultra clear, this guy deserves punishment that fits the crime. Absolutely. Lock his ass up. But he also CLEARLY needs some very intensive work in a rehab center in order to not continue to be a horrendous danger to our community when he’s paroled in a few years due to overcrowding. I’m not even thinking about funding sources or any of that, but the idea itself. Is it possible?

WS MOM July 10, 2014 (8:48 am)

I agree with AG. There has to be some way to prevent this, before someone is hurt or killed, perhaps ankle monitoring, or a pill to prvent drinking.

Robert July 10, 2014 (8:57 am)

this is one more case of a welfare drunk ,he will be under state care for the rest of his life constantly going from jail term to jail term. while the law-abiding people get taxed to death funding one after another non-working program for drunks.

gia July 11, 2014 (4:33 pm)

The idea of an ankle bracelet with alcohol monitoring is a good one, however, it is expensive, approximately 14.00 per day. That can be costly to a recently released convicted felon that is searching for a job. Most courts do not allow this cost to be waived or commuted to community service hours. So, then if the offender is not able to pay, and his family wont, then this idea may not be feasible. Antabuse is the pill that can assist with chronic alcoholism. This med, like your blood pressure med, or your acid reflux med, is as good as long as you are taking it. Not sure if someone can be court ordered to take this med (psych meds yes, this med, im not sure of). I agree with treatment being incorporated into the sentence, jail first, then to treatment both inpatient as well as out patient, treatment can help with the disease and provide coping skills, so that taking the pill would then become something the patient would WANT to do. Lots of times you get more bees with honey then vinegar. :)

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