Nearly six months after Robb Mason, 63, was struck and killed on his bicycle by a driver near the West Seattle Low-Level Bridge, King County prosecutors have charged a 20-year-old man with vehicular homicide and felony hit and run.
Mohamed Yusuf, of Seattle, was charged following an investigation that saw law enforcement obtain warrants for Yusuf’s social media accounts and video from Ring cameras near the crash scene.
Mason’s death drew cries from cycling and safety advocates calling on the city to redouble its efforts to make the streets safer for nondrivers. A memorial ride on his behalf drew more than 100 riders in the fall, including the new director of the Seattle Department of Transportation, Greg Spotts, who promised changes.
Yusuf has not been arrested or booked into jail. Instead, King County prosecutors filed the charges Dec. 27 as part of a summons to Yusuf to appear at an arraignment next week. Yusuf is not allowed to drive or leave the state without permission and prosecutors have requested he be placed on electronic home monitoring.
A spokesperson for the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, Casey McNerthney, said the decision to file the charges via summons was “based on judges’ rulings over years in previous unrelated vehicular homicide cases with similar circumstances.”
The West Seattle Blog first reported on the charges.
Mason was killed July 15 while riding his e-bike home from work. He was heading east from West Seattle, just past Harbor Island and the low bridge, when he turned left into a crosswalk to link up with the northbound bike lanes through the industrial district.
While Mason was traversing the street, a driver in a 2017 Hyundai Elantra careened through the crossing at over 50 mph, more than double the posted speed limit. The driver struck Mason, who died at the scene.
Several nearby cameras and footage from a passing Metro bus show the driver slowed briefly before speeding away, never stopping to investigate what had happened or call 911, according to the documents.
Months passed without new information, an excruciating wait for Claudia Mason, Robb Mason’s widow.
“I’ve been waiting all this time,” she said Wednesday, “knowing that this person was out there, knowing that the police were working really hard, but not really knowing exactly where it would end up.”
State legislation barred investigators from using footage from nearby cameras installed to help enforce traffic restrictions over the lower bridge to West Seattle, so police sought more roundabout routes. According to the written account of Officer Brett Schoenberg, filed with the charging documents, Seattle police determined the car was a 2017-18 Hyundai Elantra based on the debris the collision left behind. Footage from a passing Metro bus confirmed a car of that make had passed that evening and that the car had distinctive damage.
Police then combed through a list of all registered Hyundai Elantras in King County and cross-referenced it with Seattle police records. They found photos of a past incident involving a Hyundai Elantra with matching damage and identified the car’s license plate, according to the charging papers.
Investigators then obtained a search warrant for Yusuf’s phone and Snapchat account. Records confirmed Yusuf was driving at the time of Mason’s death and that Yusuf sent a friend a message over Snapchat saying he was driving a car in a hit-and-run, according to the documents. His search history shows he visited several news stories about Mason’s death.
Yusuf’s attorney, Nichole Fisher, declined to comment.
When her husband was hit, more than just one life was taken, said Claudia Mason.
“I go home to an empty house,” she said. “More than half of what’s in my home belonged to my husband. He was such a strong presence that his absence is so painfully noticeable.”
Robb Mason was a massage therapist. The job was a good fit; he liked to move his body — to dance, to bike, to hike — and had a keen understanding of the human anatomy.
“He was the kind of person that, if he was in the room, you could sense it,” she said Claudia Mason. “He had this confident reassurance for people and they just felt more complete when he was around.”
It’s a relief, she said, that charges have been filed and a reminder that “people can’t just do this with impunity,” she said.
Despite Seattle’s stated goal of eliminating traffic deaths, the city has seen limited progress. Preliminary data from SDOT, which could change, shows 27 deaths in 2022, similar to previous years.
SDOT Director Spotts has promised a review of the city’s “Vision Zero” policies early this year.
Bob Anderton, an attorney representing Claudia Mason, said that, in addition to making Seattle’s streets more welcoming to bikes and pedestrians, he’d like the state to consider establishing a presumption of liability for drivers when they hit someone walking or rolling on the street.
Anderton said that they are also considering filing civil charges.