Who is Brittney? Pasco mom can’t find her Good Samaritan

Patty Bricker was in a serious car wreck three months ago, rear-ended by a driver who then sped away.

She was injured — badly enough that she still hasn’t returned to work.

She has trouble walking, remembering, retrieving from her brain the words she wants to say.

But, as she celebrates Thanksgiving, she’s focusing on all she’s grateful for, including family, friends and the chance to be marking the day at all.

At the top of her gratitude list is a stranger who rushed to her side in the moments after the crash.

The woman “came straight to my window and asked if I needed any help,” Bricker said. She made her feel less scared and alone.

Bricker knows only the woman’s first name — Brittney — and reached out to the Herald in hopes of finding her.

She wants to say, “Thank you” in person. “What she did meant a lot,” Bricker said.

The wreck happened about 8:40 p.m. on Aug. 20. Bricker, 38, a mother of six from Pasco, was headed home from her job as manager of a clothing store at the Columbia Center mall.

She’d taken Interstate 182’s Broadmoor Boulevard exit and was stopped about halfway down the off-ramp for a light.

With shocking force, Bricker said, another car smashed into her. It felt like her seat lifted into the air, and her head slammed into the lip of her car’s sunroof, she said.

The other car — a Jeep Liberty — drove off. Law enforcement ultimately tracked down the alleged driver.

Jason Mendez, 25, of Sunnyside, is to appear Nov. 30 in Franklin County District Court on charges of failing to stop and identify at the scene of an injury accident and driving with a suspended license.

Bricker said she lost consciousness after the impact, and when she came to she was able to find her phone and dial 911.

As she waited for help, car after car kept driving by, she said.

She was in pain and badly shaken — she’d never been in a car wreck before.

Then, Brittney appeared. “She kept telling me, ‘Everything is going to be OK,’” Bricker recalled.

Her head and neck already were throbbing.

“I felt like I couldn’t even move my neck. I was sitting still because I was scared, I didn’t want to do anything,” Bricker said.

Using Bricker’s phone, Brittney called her husband, Ben.

She stayed with Bricker until medics arrived, her presence a great comfort.

Bricker also is grateful for the help of some other Good Samaritans. Alex Linnen and his wife, Breanne, were in a car ahead of her and saw the wreck unfold.

When the Jeep sped off, they followed, writing down the license plate.

They later spotted the Jeep ditched on the side of the road, also passing that information along.

Alex Linnen told the Herald that he and his wife reacted “out of second nature.”

“We were worried about (Bricker), if she was OK,” Alex said. And they didn’t want her to be left with no information on the Jeep’s driver. They did what they could, Linnen said.

Bricker said she’s touched that people like Brittney and the Linnens were willing to stop what they were doing and help a stranger.

She’s grateful to the law enforcement and medics who helped her, too.

For Bricker, the last few months haven’t been easy. She was taken to the hospital and treated for whiplash and a concussion.

Then, about a week after the wreck, she woke up struggling to speak. She needed help walking.

Doctors diagnosed post-concussion syndrome, which can include symptoms from headache to cognitive problems.

Bricker is in physical therapy and is making improvements, but she still has issues such as short-term memory loss, sound and light sensitivity, migraines and some language and mobility struggles.

She hopes to eventually return to work. To feel like her old self again.

Bricker holds no anger toward the Jeep’s driver. He must have been scared, she said.

She looks forward to the holidays with her family.

Bricker grew up in Western Washington and moved to the Tri-Cities as a teen. She and Ben are high school sweethearts.

They’ll celebrate Thanksgiving at home. They’ll modify the meal a bit, not making everything from scratch as usual.

Recently, “I tried making a cake, and it didn’t go well. I left out ingredients. I said, ‘OK, I’m going to take a break from trying to do this,’” Bricker said with a laugh.

But the family will all be around the table. That’s what matters.

After something like the wreck, “you definitely are grateful for all of the little things. The little things truly matter. If I (have) a good day and maybe do a puzzle with my kids, it’s huge,” Bricker said. “We’re all here, we’re alive and together. That’s what’s most important.”

Bricker is hoping Brittney will contact her through the Herald at sschilling@tricityherald.com or 509-582-1529.

This story was originally published November 22, 2017 at 10:46 AM with the headline "Who is Brittney? Pasco mom can’t find her Good Samaritan."