A 27-year-old Olympia man was arrested Friday for allegedly killing a Bremerton man in one of two collisions he was involved in that day, the Washington State Patrol reported.
Trooper Krista Hedstrom said WSP investigators were searching Aug. 22 for an unknown driver who had struck and killed 23-year-old Louis M. Stevens shortly before 2 a.m. near Shelton.
According to the trooper investigating the scene, Stevens was walking northbound on State Route 3 — less than a quarter of a mile south of Shelton — when he was struck from behind by an unknown vehicle around 1:50 a.m.
Stevens was declared dead at the scene.
The driver had fled the scene, and Hedstrom said that troopers received a tip Friday afternoon that led them to the suspect’s location.
About 12 hours after Stevens was struck, the suspect was involved in another collision on SR-101 near the Purdy Cutoff Road and was transported to Mason General Hospital with minor injuries.
After being released from the hospital, the suspect was arrested by WSP detectives and booked into Mason County Jail for vehicular assault and felony hit-and-run.
Hedstrom said that detectives suspect alcohol was involved in the fatal hit-and-run, and that evidence taken from the scene of that collision is consistent with evidence found on the suspect’s truck, a silver 2000 Toyota Tacoma pickup.