Crosswalk visibility crusade of man struck by truck

An Olympia man who was struck by a suspected drunken driver in a hit-and-run incident Feb. 4 is recovering at Providence St. Peter Hospital with a pelvis fractured in four places, a broken coccyx and two broken legs.

Doctors also had to insert a titanium rod in Patrick Menendez's left leg, from the top of his knee down into his ankle, he said during an interview at the hospital Thursday night.

Menendez, 36, said he didn't lose consciousness when the pickup knocked him 10 feet in the air about 8:30 p.m. as he was walking home from work near Pacific Avenue and Sawyer Street.

He remembers seeing "a look of horror" on the face of a woman crossing the street from the other side of Pacific Avenue.

Menendez thought "there was a good chance" he might die, and he thought of his wife, Mary Middleton, and their 15-month-old daughter, Izabella Menendez.

The woman who saw the incident helped Menendez, who told her his name and phone number and asked her to call his wife.

After about a minute, "I realize that I can move my arms and I can talk to people," he said. "Then I wiggle my toes."

Shortly thereafter, a 35-year-old Lacey man with at least two prior convictions for driving under the influence was arrested near the Olympia Farmers Market on suspicion of the hit-and-run. Arthur Crawley III was being held Thursday night at the Thurston County Jail on suspicion of vehicular assault with bail set at $50,000.

Crawley's arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday in Thurston County Superior Court.

Menendez, who works as a support technician at ReachONE Internet in Olympia, is preparing for a long rehabilitation.

Menendez doesn't drive, and he usually rides a bicycle to work. He said that although he doesn't blame the intersection for causing the incident, he wants to raise awareness about problem pedestrian crosswalks in Olympia. Last summer, he videotaped several intersections that he says are dangerous — such as Fourth Avenue and Chestnut Street, and Pacific Avenue and Interstate 5 on ramp — and posted them on his blog at www.olympiawatch.blogspot.com.

He said the Olympia City Council needs to improve visibility and lighting at crosswalks.

"The threats to pedestrian safety in Olympia are posed by the drivers who casually blast through our crosswalks, not the panhandlers and loiterers," he said.

Menendez's friends have put up a Web site where people can donate as he recovers at www.helppatrickandmary.com. Middleton said at the hospital Thursday that the next few months might be hard while she works and cares for their daughter as her husband recovers.

Jeremy Pawloski covers public safety at The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-754-5465 or jpawloski@theolympian.com.