The Washington State Patrol is desperately searching Wednesday for a driver who hit a Whatcom County couple nearly head-on Monday, then fled the scene on foot. The wife’s injuries were so severe she was airlifted to Harborview.
Here's where hit/run happened in #Everson SR544. @wastatepatrol says driver likely fled in woods. @KIRO7Seattle at 6 pic.twitter.com/BeeLd4JU1o
— Joanna Small (@JoannaKIRO7) February 10, 2016
Troopers say the suspect was making a left-hand turn out of an Everson grocery store parking lot right as Jeff and Jennifer Bergman were traveling east on State Route 544. That's when the other driver slammed into the passenger side of the Bergman's vehicle, pushing it into thick woods on the side of the road. That's also where troopers believe the suspect may have fled.
Wednesday Jeff could hardly speak about his wife Jennifer without crying. We met him at his mother's house in Ferndale to talk about the horrific crash.
"It happened real quick," he told us.
This is Jeff Bergman. His sternum broken after hit/run. His wife is worse, at #Harborview in ICU. @KIRO7Seattle at 6 pic.twitter.com/JrekoMOoRX
— Joanna Small (@JoannaKIRO7) February 10, 2016
He asked his mother Kathy Miller to give us the graphic details.
This is what the Bergman's car looks like after a man hit them-- then ran on foot. @wastatepatrol looking for him. pic.twitter.com/lFtCvth9QW
— Joanna Small (@JoannaKIRO7) February 10, 2016
"She was pinned under the dash and when the rescuers got there they had to cut off the top of the car to get them out of it," Kathy explained.
Jeff has a broken sternum and cracked ribs, but Jennifer has two mangled femurs. Yet there's more.
"The guy just got out of the vehicle and ran, just ran, just left them and ran," Kathy said of the driver who struck her son and daughter-in-law.
Troopers—with help from a border patrol helicopter—searched the woods around the accident site but turned up nothing. Wednesday they told us he has no photo on file with the Department of Licensing but they believe they know the man's name or names. They released them in hopes you may know him; he goes by both Anatolio Mendez Santos and Jose Ortiz Santos.
"Come forward, you know, face the music," Kathy said, addressing the suspect.
But there's still more: Jennifer needs cochlear implants to hear. She lost them in the wreck. Jeff is too injured to visit her so he hasn't spoken to his wife in two days, and Wednesday is her 51st birthday.
“You just don’t treat people like they’re trash and just leave them when you know you’ve done some harm,” Kathy concluded.
Cox Media Group
