POULSBO — A 69-year-old woman was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center today, after she was struck by a car while in a crosswalk at Front Street and Torval Canyon Road.
Her dog was also struck and was taken to a nearby animal hospital.
Washington State Patrol later identified the woman as Pamela A. Romberg of Poulsbo. Kitsap News Group is not identifying the driver because she has not been charged with a crime.
Poulsbo Police Chief Dan Schoonmaker said Romberg’s injuries were life threatening.
Emergency personnel were dispatched to the scene at 7:36 a.m. Romberg was walking east to west — from the upland side of Front Street to the bay side — and was three-quarters of the way across the street when she was struck by a newer-model four-door sedan traveling in the southbound lane, Schoonmaker said.
The driver of the vehicle was the car’s sole occupant, Deputy Chief Andy Pate said. It was the time of morning when “it’s just becoming light,” Schoonmaker said, indicating that visibility may have been a factor. The incident appeared, he said, to be “an accident in the truest sense of the word.”
Medics transported Romberg to Raab Park to be airlifted. A section of Front Street was blocked to traffic, and southbound vehicles were detoured onto Torval Canyon Road.
Washington State Patrol troopers — called in because of their expertise, Pate said — marked the location of possible evidence and recorded various measurements. A line of yellow spraypaint encircled the spot where Romberg’s coat lay on the street, blood congealing next to it.
The driver of the sedan sat in the front passenger seat of a Poulsbo police car, not as a suspect but because she was distraught and needed a place to sit. Her husband spoke with her. Washington State Patrol Sgt. B.E. George described her as “very cooperative, and very distraught.” A trooper walked over to say that the driver was not prepared to talk, was not able to talk, to the press.
At 9:08 a.m., a Poulsbo Fire Department engine arrived to wash away the blood. The street would be reopened to vehicle traffic within about 10 minutes, Officer Nick Hoke said.
Troopers would collect all their evidence and a report would be written that day. Meanwhile, the driver emerged from the patrol car. She looked stunned. Her husband placed an arm around her and they walked together, silently, and alone.
— Richard Walker is managing editor of Kitsap News Group. Contact him at rwalker@soundpublishing.com
Poulsbo Police Officer Nick Hoke walks by the site where a woman was struck by a car, Dec. 15 in the crosswalk at Front Street and Torval Canyon Road. (Richard Walker/Kitsap News Group)
Washington State Patrol troopers collect evidence at the site where a woman was struck by a car, Dec. 15 in the crosswalk at Front Street and Torval Canyon Road. (Richard Walker/Kitsap News Group)
The driver of a vehicle that struck a woman in a crosswalk is embraced by her husband as they walk down Front Street, Dec. 15. (Richard Walker/Kitsap News Group)
