Man who fatally hit pedestrian in Lakewood found not guilty by reason of insanity
A man accused of crashing an SUV into a woman walking on a Lakewood sidewalk last year has been found not guilty by reason of insanity.
That commits 44-year-old David Matthew Scott to the custody of the state Department of Social and Health Services, according to the order signed Nov. 22 by Pierce County Superior Court Judge Stephanie Arend.
Scott was charged with vehicular homicide for the death of 68-year-old Karen McMillion.
Charging papers said he ran a red light Nov. 14, 2018 on Bridgeport Way at 86th Street Southwest, swerved to avoid hitting a police vehicle, then drove onto the sidewalk and hit McMillion.
The officer started CPR. McMillion died at the scene.
Another officer who spoke with Scott nearby noted that Scott seemed “unusually upbeat,” the charging papers said.
He had been hospitalized for psychiatric reasons two weeks before the crash and was suffering a manic episode in the days prior, according to court records.
“At the time of the commission of the offense, the defendant, as a result of mental disease or defect, was unable to perceive the nature and quality of the act with which defendant is charged,” the findings of fact signed by Arend say.
The document goes on to say: “It is not in the best interest of the defendant and others that the defendant is placed in treatment less restrictive than detention in a state mental hospital.”
He can’t be released from state custody without an order of the court.
