Hit and run while on foot, then the car “sort of drove itself”

A man hotwired his own car which then careened into a Puget Sound Energy transformer on Sat., June 19., according to two witnesses and Lacey Police.

Donovan McKinlay, 30, of Yelm, was spotted shortly after 1:30 p.m. by a witness fueling up his green Suzuki Sidekick, pop the hood and hotwiring it to start up at the Safeway Fuel Station at 1120 Galaxy Dr SE in Lacey.

As the Sidekick’s engine turned on, the car moved forward approximately 50 feet, with his passenger inside, not stopping until it hit a PSE transformer box. Witnesses told Lacey police that McKinlay immediately got behind the wheel and fled the scene, leaving the vehicle’s grille on the ground where it had fallen after it collided with the transformer.

The estimated damage to the PSE transformer was $25,000.

Lacey police discovered McKinlay’s vehicle only a few blocks away, in the Walmart parking lot at 1401 Galaxy Dr NE.

Lacey police made contact with a female occupant inside the vehicle, who confirmed that McKinlay’s vehicle had just hit a transformer box while she was in the passenger seat of the car, that McKinlay drove the car to Walmart, and then left her by herself there.  She told LPD that McKinlay had warrants out for his arrest and that he fled on foot to avoid being caught.

While the police were talking with the woman, McKinlay approached the car on foot. Police say he admitted that the vehicle needed to be hotwired to start and that he had accidentally left the vehicle in drive, not park, when shutting it off to get gas.  He allegedly stated that the vehicle “sort of drove itself” to the Walmart parking lot and the brakes did not work, so he was not able to stop it.

McKinlay was booked into the Nisqually jail for reckless driving and hit-and-run unattended.