Police search for hit and run suspects

A Fern Prairie man says he is thankful he and his granddaughters are alive after they were recently involved in a hit-and-run accident.

On the afternoon of Sept. 8, Stuart Wade and his two grandchildren ages 7 and 9 were heading home from a store. As they drove down Northeast 19th Street past the Fern Prairie Market, a silver 1990s model sedan exited the parking lot.

“When he pulled out, he got right behind me and started honking his horn,” Wade said.

As both vehicles turned down Blair Road, Wade put on his turn signal to begin pulling over to the right, where the street widens, to let the sedan pass.

“I just thought, I’m getting off the road,” he said. “The girls were scared to death.”

That’s when the silver sedan hit the rear end of Wade’s 2013 Mazda2, which then slammed into a chain link fence, ran over two posts, and smacked into a fir tree, Wade said. The silver sedan sped away from the scene.

Wade and his granddaughters, all wearing seat belts, were unable to open the vehicle’s doors, so they crawled out the back of the totalled vehicle.

Both girls were taken to the hospital by ambulance so that they could be checked out by doctors. Wade said they suffered seat belt burns and were sore and bruised, but other than that they had no serious injuries.

Wade said he saw at least two people in the suspect’s car, which would have front end damage to its passenger side as well as a broken headlight. He’s hoping police, who were able to obtain a grainy video of suspects filling their car up with gas at Fern Prairie Market, will be able to track the driver down.

“That guy had several options. You just don’t do what he did,” Wade said. “I want this guy.”

Wade’s wife and the girls’ grandmother, Rene, said she plans to offer a $300 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case.

“Somebody knows something,” she said. “This guy is out there. We’ve got to get him.”

She is thankful the situation didn’t turn out worse.

“This morning, I was thinking how glad I am that I’m getting ready to go to work, and not planning a funeral,” she said.

Anyone with information about the incident should contact the Clark County Sheriff’s Office at 397-2211.