Investigators have not yet determined whether the driver of a car that fatally injured a man this week struck him by accident.
The body of Anthony B. Herrmann, 55, was found in the driveway of a home south of Oak Harbor near the intersection of State Highway 20 and Waterloo Road Tuesday morning, according to Island County Coroner Robert Bishop.
The house was listed as Herrmann’s address on his driver’s license, the coroner said. Herrmann also has a long criminal history associated with the property, court records show.
Bishop said Herrmann’s injuries make it clear that he was struck at a relatively low speed while he was standing. He did not die right away, but Bishop isn’t releasing the time of death.
Discovery of the body was reported at 10:19 a.m. Tuesday.
Herrmann may have walked from the south end of Oak Harbor, near 7-Eleven and the DK Market, prior to the collision, the Island County Sheriff’s Office reported.
Bishop determined Herrmann’s cause of death as blunt force injury to the torso and extremities due to pedestrian-versus-motor-vehicle collision. The manner of death is undetermined.
The sheriff’s office reported that detectives seized a 2004 blue Jaguar XD4, Washington license plate AFJ4435. A police report from a 2013 case shows that a 68-year-old female resident owned the house and the car.
Detectives are asking for the public’s help in determining the location of the Jaguar prior to Herrmann’s death. Anyone who may have seen the vehicle in the Oak Harbor area between Jan. 30 at 10 p.m. and Jan. 31 at 10 a.m. is asked to contact the sheriff’s office through the ICOM dispatch at 360-679-9567 or email tips@co.island.wa.us.
Investigators reported that the collision occurred within that time frame.
Police reports from other cases state that Herrmann had an on-again, off-again relationship with the homeowner, which was troubled and violent because of Herrmann’s serious alcohol problem.
Herrmann has a long history of felony crimes in Island County. All but two of the cases involve crimes that occurred at the residence where his body was found. He was arrested at least eight times for violating no-contact orders barring him from the house, though he apparently was allowed to live in a travel trailer on the property at different times, police reports state.
In two cases, Herrmann committed unprovoked assaults on people visiting the home. In 2014, he was arrested for allegedly hitting a man with a shovel. In 2006, he struck a 16-year-old girl in the face.
In all of the criminal cases, police officers reported that Herrmann was intoxicated. Court records show he was at the VA hospital in Seattle at one point for rehab. A 2012 report from Harborview Medical Center states that he suffered a skull fracture and hematoma from falling from a bicycle. Another report states that he was committed to Western State Hospital, a psychiatric facility, for about two weeks in 2014.
