Update: Driver ran home after crashing new ATV, killing his Finley neighbor

A 30-year-old Finley man told investigators he’d been drinking before he crashed his all-terrain vehicle, killing a woman riding with him.

David Philip Miller is facing hit-and-run charges in addition to vehicular homicide after he ran from the crash early Sunday, according to documents filed in Benton County District Court.

Miller was driving his brand new Polaris Ranger Crew ATV about 2 a.m. on Bryson Brown Road in Finley east of Kennewick, Benton County sheriff’s Sgt. Carlos Trevino wrote in the document for a 72-hour investigative hold.

Trevino wrote that Miller was driving with four passengers when he left the paved road and tried to climb a ditch bank to the top.

“He failed to properly maneuver the angle/incline causing the ATV to turn over onto the driver’s side,” wrote Trevino.

Nadine Locati, 34, of Finley, was sitting behind Miller and was partially ejected and fatally injured.

The other passengers included Miller’s 28-year-old wife, Locati’s 42-year-old boyfriend and the boyfriend’s 17-year-old daughter, who suffered minor injuries, the sheriff’s office previously reported.

Lawyer Scott Johnson, whose firm has been hired by Miller, said Miller and Locati were neighbors.

“David and his family were really close to Nadine and her family, so my client and his family are heartbroken over the whole incident for both Nadine and her family,” Johnson told the Tri-City Herald.

He explained that Miller and his wife got home Saturday evening after picking up the side-by-side utility terrain vehicle, or UTV, in Spokane, and were excited to test it out with their friends.

They had been driving around the neighborhood and were heading home when the crash happened.

Johnson said Miller and Locati’s boyfriend in the front seat both had their seat belts on — otherwise the UTV would not operate — but the two women and teen in the back did not.

Trevino said Miller was found at home about 1 1/2 miles away, and when questioned he initially denied being the driver and then said he got scared.

He later admitted to being the driver and to having had three shots of liquor and a beer in the hours before the crash, said the document.

He was not injured and was booked into the Benton County jail at 10:15 a.m. Sunday. He was released just before 4 p.m. Monday after posting bond on $50,000 bail.

Johnson told the Herald that Miller took a portable breathalyzer test, which came in well under the 0.08 percent legal limit to drive in Washington state.

He said Miller had about 1 1/2 ounces of hard alcohol and part of a beer over a 6-hour period, so believes the later results of a blood draw will show his client was not really intoxicated at the time.

This story was originally published November 17, 2020 at 12:53 PM.