Justice failed to report crash

OLYMPIA — State Supreme Court Justice Tom Chambers crashed his motorcycle last month but failed to report the accident, even though the woman riding with him was injured badly enough to need treatment at an emergency room.

State law requires drivers to report to the police any accident in which someone is injured. Failure to do so can result in a traffic citation.

Chambers, 62, confirmed the accident to The Seattle Times but said he didn't know he was required to report it to the police. He said he figured he did what was required by taking the woman to the emergency room.

The woman — Carrie Brown, 54, whom Chambers described as a longtime friend — suffered a broken collarbone and wound up with a severe bruise on her side.

Chambers said he had notified his insurance company of the accident. He said Wednesday his failure to notify the police was an oversight and that he would file a report.

"I think I've done everything right," he said, but added, "I've obviously overlooked a report, and I think it happens all the time."

Both he and Brown described the crash as a minor incident.

"We were riding. I hit some gravel and went down," Chambers said. "She was injured. I took her to the emergency room. She was treated, and I drove her home. And that's it."

"It was no big deal at all," Brown said. "Nobody else was involved. We just flipped out on the gravel on the side of the road."

Chambers has a valid motorcycle license, according to the state Department of Licensing.

Chambers, who is up for re-election this year, speculated that word of the accident is being spread for political reasons.

"Look, it's just a motorcycle accident," he said. "It's a motorcycle accident that has happened, and somebody is trying to make political hay out of it."

Chambers and Brown gave similar accounts of the accident:

On July 20, Chambers invited Brown to go for a motorcycle ride on Vashon Island.

It was early evening. As they rounded a corner, Chambers hit a gravel patch and lost control. Brown said she was "flipped" from the bike. There were no other vehicles or witnesses around.

"Initially, we didn't think we needed medical attention," Chambers said.

Brown said she thought she had just had the wind knocked out of her. The motorcycle was still rideable, so they caught the ferry and returned to her apartment in West Seattle. But by the time they got there about a half-hour later, Brown said she was hurting and asked Chambers to take her to the emergency room.

Chambers said he was sore but didn't need medical attention.

He said he waited a "long time" while Brown was treated for her injuries and then took her home.

Both said they never thought about reporting the crash to the police. Chambers said his understanding of the law in such cases was "you're not supposed to leave the scene; you're supposed to assist them."

That's partly true. Under state law, it's a felony for a driver to leave the scene of an accident without rendering assistance to anyone who was injured.

But state law also requires drivers to report any accident in which someone was injured or killed, or in which there was at least $750 worth of damage. The law says a written report must be filed within four days.

Without mentioning Chambers' name, The Times described the accident to Sgt. Monica Hunter, spokeswoman for the Washington State Patrol, and asked whether it fell within the scope of the reporting law.

"As soon as they knew that she was injured, they should have reported it," Hunter said.

She said it is uncertain whether the state or local police would try to issue a failure-to-report citation in a case like this. The state can suspend a person's license until a report is filed, but officials at the state Department of Licensing said they did not know whether that penalty is ever applied.

Hunter said reporting injury accidents is important so police can investigate and, if necessary, issue citations.

"If somebody doesn't report a collision, you wonder, 'Why not?' " Hunter said.

Brown said Chambers at first said he wasn't sure whether his insurance policy covered passengers, but said he called last week to tell her it would.

"He felt awful about it, and he's totally taken responsibility for it," she said.

Brown said Chambers never indicated he wanted the crash kept secret.

Chambers said he has known Brown for decades.

Chambers, who lives in Issaquah, is past president of the Washington State Bar Association and was a prominent trial lawyer before being elected to the Supreme Court in 2000.

He is one of three incumbent justices up for re-election this year. He is being challenged by former King County Superior Court Judge Jeanette Burrage. A former state legislator, Burrage was a controversial figure on the bench and has failed in several attempts to get elected to the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals.

Supreme Court justices are held to high standards, as one of Chambers' colleagues found out three years ago.

Justice Bobbe Bridge was arrested in 2003 on drunken-driving and hit-and-run charges. While returning home from a party in Seattle's Queen Anne neighborhood, Bridge sideswiped a parked pickup and then drove on the wrong side of the road, forcing another vehicle onto the curb to avoid a collision.

Bridge was reprimanded by the state Commission on Judicial Conduct, which called her actions "callous" to the safety of others.

"A state Supreme Court justice is expected by the public to be a model citizen," the commission said in its reprimand.

Ralph Thomas: 360-943-9882 or rthomas@seattletimes.com