An Auburn man was sentenced to a little under eight and a half years in prison for an incident where he crashed into a barrier on State Route 599, causing his vehicle to fall over the side of the overpass and land onto Interstate 5.
Following a felony plea agreement, Daud Sakerie Mohamud, 31, of Auburn, received a 102-month sentence for the crime of hit and run death. This charge stems from a March 7 incident where Mohamud crashed his vehicle, killing passenger Abdiqadir Mohamed Ahmed.
According to documents, with Mohamud’s other concurrent charges of vehicular homicide, disregard for the safety of others and vehicular assault, his hit-and-run death charge had an offender score of six. That means the lowest sentence Mohamud could have received was 77 months, and the highest he could have received was 102 months.
Mohamud was also charged with driving with a suspended license, violation of ignition interlock and two counts of reckless endangerment. Mohamud received a 365-day jail sentence for those charges, but as part of his plea agreement, that sentence was suspended contingent on following the conditions of 24 months of probation.
According to statements from prosecutor Hannah Godwin, the case was carefully negotiated and took into account Mohamud’s willingness to take accountability at an early stage. Mohamud’s attorney, James Curtis, stated that charging documents indicate that Mohamud accused Ahmed of being the driver during the accident, but that when he met him, he said that was not true and he stated that he wanted to take accountability for what happened.
“He was sick about losing a friend. He was sick about the pain he caused his family,” Curtis stated. “There hasn’t been a single instance where he’s complained or argued about the penalty that he’s going to have to pay in this case. He understood from the moment I met him the magnitude of what happened.”
Details of the incident
At about 10:17 a.m. March 7, Washington State Patrol received 911 calls of a multi-car collision on northbound I-5 at SR 599. Troopers were advised that a black Highlander SUV came off the SR 599 overpass in the Tukwila area and landed below on I-5. According to documents, analysis of the SUV showed it was traveling about 90 mph when it crashed.
Callers stated that one person had been ejected and was possibly deceased, and another person was still in the SUV and seriously injured. The other person suffered a broken neck and clavicle and did not remember the incident due to a severe head injury, according to documents.
Documents state that the SUV Mohamud was driving during the crash also hit another vehicle, causing a multi-car collision. Another person, later identified as Mohamud, had also been ejected onto SR 599 before the vehicle fell onto I-5, and was unconscious. According to documents, Mohamud woke up and fled the scene on foot northbound. An officer then observed Mohamud exit the treeline and described him as being covered in blood.
Documents state that an officer then contacted Mohamud and tried to have him assessed by medics, but he refused. Mohamud asked to go to the bushes to vomit, but he instead threw his wallet on the ground in an attempt to conceal his identity. Mohamud stated that his deceased friend, Ahmed, was the one driving. Documents state that Mohamud said he let Ahmed drive when he picked him up, and that he left his shoes in the front driver’s seat area before moving to the back seat.
When Mohamud was asked by officers what shoes he was wearing that day, he said he was wearing black Crocs. Documents state that black Crocs were found inside the SUV, and Mohamud was arrested for hit-and-run.
Talk to us
Please share your story tips by emailing editor@kentreporter.com.
To share your opinion for publication, submit a letter through our website https://www.kentreporter.com/submit-letter/. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. (We’ll only publish your name and hometown.) Please keep letters to 300 words or less.
