A man accused of causing a hit-and-run crash Sunday night that killed a 3-month-old Fife boy pleaded not guilty to three charges, including vehicular homicide, during his arraignment Thursday afternoon.
About two dozen friends and family members of baby Jayden Wayman, who died Tuesday, gathered in Pierce County Superior Court, holding one another and crying quietly.
Before the proceedings, Jayden’s sister, 5-year-old Katana Wayman, turned to her grandfather Don Medema.
“Where’s Jayden?” she asked.
Medema, choked with tears, couldn’t answer.
Prosecutors have charged Matthew Ryan Hamilton, 26, with vehicular homicide, failure to remain at the scene of an injury accident and driving with a suspended license. He is being held in Pierce County Jail with bail set at $500,000 and will go to trial March 25.
Police said Hamilton was driving east on 20th Street East in Fife about 10 p.m. when he struck a car driven by Jon Wayman, Jayden’s father.
Jayden was buckled into his car seat on the side of the car that was hit. He was taken to Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital and Health Center in Tacoma, where he died Tuesday. Hamilton allegedly fled and was arrested Monday morning at a Fife apartment complex, where investigators found him sleeping on a friend’s couch.
In arguing for high bail, prosecutor Timothy Jones cited Hamilton’s criminal convictions in Whatcom and Grant counties, including a DUI conviction last November.
After the arraignment, a shaken Jon Wayman described the anguish he felt waiting in the hospital for his son.
“We stayed by his side, praying,” he said.
Jon Wayman said he wanted to see Hamilton serve the maximum possible sentence. Given Hamilton’s criminal record, “it’s hard to explain why he was even on the streets,” Wayman said.
Hours after the arraignment, 150 people attended a candlelight vigil at Fife’s Central Park, at Radiance Boulevard and Tribute Avenue. Tea lights in plastic cups lit the walkways around the park and playground area. As cars whooshed by in the distance, strangers walked up to Jayden’s family members, embracing them and whispering condolences.
The birth of a boy was a delightful surprise for Karla and Jon Wayman, who moved to Fife four years ago.
“We haven’t had any boys in my family in a while,” Jon Wayman said.
Because Katana had her mother’s initials, K.W., the Waymans wanted their son to have the initials J.W., after his father. After sifting through a long list of “J” names, they decided on Jayden.
“It just flowed,” Jon Wayman said.
Even at the beginning, Jayden was an alert child, his father recalled.
“The day he was born, the photographer said, ‘Babies are never this awake for photographs,’” he said.
Jayden never sat still, Medema added.
“He was a wiggly one,” he said. “It was a challenge to hold that kid.”
One happy memory from Sunday night, before the accident, is vivid in Jon Wayman’s mind: Jayden at dinner, laughing with his grandmother.
“My mom was playing with Jayden and getting him to realize he had feet,” he said. The family was heading home from Everett when the crash occurred.
Katana doesn’t completely understand that her brother is gone, Medema said.
“She loved her brother so much,” he said. “She would go up to strangers and say, ‘This is my baby brother Jayden.’”
A fund for the family has been set up at all branches of U.S. Bank, under the name “Baby Jayden Trust.”
Joyce Chen: 253-597-8426
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