A 24-year-old passenger on a dirt bike was seriously injured in a crash on North Whidbey Wednesday night, the State Patrol reported.
The driver of the dirt bike, 21-year-old Christopher Atkinson of Oak Harbor, was arrested on suspicion of vehicular assault. He made his preliminary appearance in Island County Superior Court Thursday; the judge set his bail at $50,000.
According to the State Patrol’s report, Atkinson was driving a 1989 Yamaha dirt bike on Childrens Avenue, about six miles north of Oak Harbor. Raymond Jackson, a 24-year-old Oak Harbor man, was a passenger on the dirt bike. Neither men were wearing helmets.
Atkinson lost control of the dirt bike near the intersection with Nogaterra Way. The bike slid into a parked 1991 Chevrolet Camaro.
Deputy Prosecutor Eric Ohme said Jackson suffered a head injury, a knee injury and a possibly disfiguring laceration to his face. He was airlifted from the scene to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. He was in serious condition in the intensive care unit Thursday afternoon.
Ohme said there was evidence that Atkinson may have been intoxicated. A witness said the bike was traveling at “a very high rate of speed,” according to the deputy prosecutor.
Atkinson was also injured, but he was well enough to be booked into the Island County Jail. Ohme said at the hearing that Atkinson was wanted on an Island County warrant at the time of the accident because he hadn’t surrender himself at the jail to serve a sentence for a DUI conviction.
