SEATTLE — The man accused of hit and run that killed a Skyway woman last month pleaded not guilty in court on Wednesday.
74-year-old Daniel Hayes faced a judge at the King County Courthouse on Wednesday. He’s accused of being heavily intoxicated when he hit a parked truck with his R-V so hard it moved, hitting and killing a woman in Skyway last month.
The son of the victim Susana Garcia-Perez, Dan Robles, addressed a King County Judge this morning during the arraignment for Daniel Hayes, “just make sure that justice is done.”
King County Sheriff’s Deputies say Hayes was driving his recreational vehicle on July 24 when he hit several vehicles. One of those vehicles, a pickup truck, plowed into Garcia-Perez, killing her.
Hayes appeared in court in a wheelchair and pleaded not guilty to charges of vehicular homicide, hit and run, reckless driving, and driving without a license.
Robles asked the judge to ensure that Hayes stayed behind bars, “I just want to make sure that he doesn’t leave custody, that he should face the consequences for the decision he made. Driving drunk is not an accident; it’s a choice.”
Hayes was taken into custody on July 25, when someone spotted his damaged RV in the North Bend area and alerted the Washington State Patrol.
The RV had been caught on camera the night of the hit and run at a Skyway Grocery Outlet store.
According to probable cause documents, Hayes was questioned and “claimed that the damage to the motorhome came from when someone struck his vehicle while he was asleep, and it was parked. When confronted with still images from the video at Grocery Outlet, he admitted to having been there and buying a 6-pack of 16oz Budweiser beer from an employee there.”
Robles and his sisters were in the gallery for the arraignment of Hayes, and choked back tears when Robles addressed the court and talked about his mother, “my mom was a single mother, now we’re motherless.”
Garcia-Perez’s family pushed for Hayes’ bail to stay at $250-thousand, and the judge agreed.
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