These charges filed in crash that injured 4, including an infant still in critical condition
A 54-year-old Lynden man is facing multiple vehicular assault charges for a two-car collision Friday night, Jan. 20, near Ferndale that injured three adults and has left an infant in critical condition.
Robert Theodore Dodge III was charged Monday, Jan. 23, in Whatcom County Superior Court with three counts of vehicular assault, all felonies. The prosecuting attorney has also filed aggravating circumstances on each of the vehicular assault charges alleging that the three victims’ injuries “substantially exceed the level of bodily harm necessary to satisfy the elements of the offense,” according to court records.
Dodge was expected to make a first appearance in court on Monday but his hearing was rescheduled to Tuesday, Jan. 24, due to an attorney illness, the court records show.
Dodge was also charged Monday in a separate, unrelated third-degree theft case in which he’s accused of stealing roughly $500 worth of merchandise from Target, court records show.
Shortly before 10:30 p.m. on Jan. 20, a 2014 gray Toyota Sienna and a 2019 black Nissan Rogue were driving northbound on Interstate 5 south of Ferndale at Smith Road, according to a Washington State Patrol news release on the incident.
The Toyota Sienna, which was later determined to be driven by Dodge, was found to be stolen and was fleeing an attempted traffic stop by the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office, according to court records and the State Patrol news release.
The Nissan Rogue was driven by 27-year-old Heiner Nunez. Twenty-eight-year-old Dina L. Garcia and an 11-month-old male infant were passengers in the vehicle, the State Patrol news release shows.
The Toyota Sienna hit the back of the Nissan Rogue, which caused the Nissan Rogue to roll until it came to rest on its top off of the roadway, while the Toyota Sienna came to rest in both lanes of the Interstate, the news release states.
Nunez was the only person wearing a seat belt, according to the state patrol.
All four people were injured in the collision.
Dodge and Nunez were both taken to PeaceHealth St. Joseph’s hospital in Bellingham.
Dodge reportedly suffered a shoulder joint injury and laceration, and Nunez sustained spinal injuries and internal bleeding, according to court records.
As of Tuesday afternoon, both Dodge and Nunez had been discharged from the hospital. They had both previously been in satisfactory condition, Beverly Mayhew, a hospital spokesperson told The Bellingham Herald Tuesday.
Garcia and the male infant were taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
Garcia reportedly suffered pelvic fractures and internal bleeding and the infant sustained head injuries and internal bleeding, the court records show.
Garcia was in satisfactory condition, while the baby was in critical condition as of Tuesday afternoon, Susan Gregg, a hospital spokesperson, told The Herald Tuesday.
Details and history
Just before the collision, a Whatcom County Sheriff’s deputy had attempted to stop Dodge as he was driving the Toyota Sienna on Slater Road before turning northbound onto I-5.
Dodge didn’t stop, so the deputy stopped and didn’t initiate a pursuit, according to court records. Dodge then continued on northbound I-5 at a high rate of speed, with at least one witness claiming the vehicle was traveling around 100 miles per hour, court records state.
The front of the Toyota Sienna then hit the back of the Nissan Rogue, records state.
Sheriff’s deputies were the first to respond to the collision and found Dodge in the passenger seat of the Toyota Sienna. A police dog was unable to track any other occupants who may have fled from the Toyota, the court records state.
Law enforcement officers found a half-empty bottle of Jack Daniels liquor between the passenger and driver seat of the Toyota and a meth pipe inside of a cannabis container in Dodge’s jacket pocket, according to court records.
Nunez, Garcia and the child were trapped in the Nissan Rogue and had to be extracted from the vehicle, the records state.
At the hospital, State Patrol troopers identified Dodge and found his license to be surrendered in Washington state. Troopers also observed an odor of intoxicants coming from Dodge and two vials of his blood were drawn after a search warrant was requested and approved, the court records state.
Dodge was allegedly under the influence at the time of the collision, according to court records.
Dodge is also facing a third-degree theft charge in a separate, unrelated court case from March 2022. Dodge is accused of stealing around $100 worth of merchandise from the Fred Meyer on Lakeway Drive, according to court records.
Dodge has previous convictions for first-degree burglary, felony telephone harassment and violations of a no-contact order, according to court records.
He also has previous convictions for controlled substance violations, but those were dismissed in 2022 due to the Washington State Supreme Court ruling in the Blake case, which struck down the state’s simple drug possession law as unconstitutional, court records show.
