FERNDALE - A felon from Ferndale was sentenced Thursday, Jan. 31, to more than two years in prison for breaking a jogger's jaw in a road rage attack this summer.
Court records show Gavin J. Haggith, 30, was driving his beige Ford Taurus on Brown Road on the evening of July 12 when the car swerved toward the roadside, coming within about four feet of a jogger. The jogger "flipped the driver off," according to charging documents filed in Whatcom County Superior Court.
Haggith slammed on the brakes, fishtailing the car. He got out and ran toward the jogger at a full sprint. In full view of the neighbors, Haggith punched the man, breaking his jaw.
Witnesses scribbled down the license plate of the car as Haggith drove off.
Soon afterward, deputies tracked down the car - but not the suspect - about a mile away at Haggith's home. According to the charges, he later told his father he got into a heated argument with a "walker." During the confrontation, some "spittle" flew into Haggith's face, so he "ended up punching the walker," Deputy Prosecutor James T. Hulbert wrote in the charges.
He turned himself after four days on the lam.
At Haggith's Thursday court hearing, the victim told Judge Ira Uhrig his jaw was wired shut for weeks. He lost 27 pounds as he recovered from surgery.
"All I was doing that day was going out for a jog," he said. "I have no doubt that once he's out, he's going to do something like this again."
Haggith chose not to speak. Uhrig sentenced him to two years and five months in prison for the assault.
He faces more felony charges for crimes he's accused of committing while out on bail. In October, prosecutors charged him with having tools stolen from a Habitat for Humanity construction site. Three weeks later, he was charged with rioting in Whatcom County Jail.
Haggith has a history of robbery, cocaine possession, theft and malicious mischief.
Reach Caleb Hutton at 360-715-2276 or caleb.hutton@bellinghamherald.com. Read his dispatcher blog at blogs.bellinghamherald.com/dispatcher or follow him on Twitter at @bhamcrime.
