Former NBA player was Jaguar driver in Ottawa County hit-and-run of 70-year-old (original) (raw)
By
Courtesy: Apex Fuels web siteDuane Eddy Washington
OTTAWA COUNTY, MI -- A former National Basketball Association player has been identified as the Jaguar driver who allegedly struck a 70-year-old pedestrian on I-96 in Ottawa County.
State police records show that the Ottawa County sheriff's department has requested a warrant for a felony traffic offense against Duane Eddy Washington, 48. He played in the NBA in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Washington started playing for the Washington Bullets in 1987 after being drafted, then later played for the New Jersey Nets and Los Angeles Clippers before ending his NBA career in 1993.
He later played in the Canadian and European basketball leagues for 15 years.
Ottawa County sheriff's deputies said a 2001 Jaguar struck Estella Vitins, a 70-year-old woman with dementia, as she walked west along the eastbound lanes of I-96 in Crockery Township about 2 a.m. today.
She had gone missing from her Sparta home the day earlier.
Estella Marie Vitins
Vitins had driven her car along the freeway, but stopped near the six-mile marker and began to walk early this morning, police said.
The Jaguar's passenger-side mirror broke off upon striking Vitins. The driver did not stay at the scene and Ottawa County sheriff's detectives used a Silent Observer tip to track the vehicle and driver to an apartment complex near 60th Street and Kalamazoo Avenue in Gaines Township.
He was arrested this morning.
Vitins is recovering from broken bones at a Grand Rapids hospital. An arraignment for the Jaguar driver is expected Wednesday in Grand Haven District Court.
E-mail John Tunison: jtunison@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/johntunison
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