No charges for Sound Transit driver who killed 2 after running red light
Dec 30, 2014, 2:16 PM | Updated: 3:01 pm
A Sound Transit bus driver who killed two people after running a red light and crashing into their SUV won’t be charged after prosecutors determined there wasn’t enough evidence to file vehicular homicide or hit-and-run charges in the May 6, 2013 collision, the King County Prosecutors Office announced Tuesday.
Alexsandr Rukhlin, 66, was behind the wheel of the Sound Transit bus when he failed to stop for a red light after exiting a freeway ramp in Kirkland.
The bus collided with a Ford Escape, killing Robert and Elizabeth Rotta, and injuring their son Kendall Rotta.
Rukhlin continued driving down an onramp following the collision towards I-405, telling one passenger he “has no brakes.”
But investigators subsequently determined there was no mechanical issue with the bus and brakes. A collision reconstruction and analysis of computers on the bus determined the driver stepped on the accelerator before and after the crash.
“No matter how tragic the outcome, we need to find some conscious act of disregard in order to file charges,” says Mark Larson, Chief Criminal Deputy. “There’s no question the driver was negligent, it’s likely he may have misapplied the gas for the brakes. But while that may have been the proximate cause of the accident, it didn’t involve the conscious disregard that would transform this from negligence to a criminal act.”
Investigators who interviewed the driver at the scene found no evidence he was impaired, and a subsequent blood draw found no impairing drugs or alcohol in his system.
Under state law, prosecutors would have had to find evidence Rukhlin was driving in either a reckless manner or with Disregard for the Safety of Others (DSO), neither of which could be proven, Larson says.
Prosecutors also reviewed a potential felony hit and run charge against Rukhlin for continuing on for nearly 3/4 of a mile after the collision. While he clearly knew he had been involved in a collision, he claimed he could not get the bus to stop. A passenger helped him finally bring it to a halt minutes later.
“Given that there is no evidence that Rukhlin was actually attempting to flee from the scene, hit and run charges cannot be filed,” Larson says.
The case will be forwarded to King County District Court for the filing of traffic infractions.
