23-year-old man accused of driving 3 times the legal limit when he hit STA bus, injuring passenger and bus driver

May 7-A 23-year-old man was driving with nearly three times the legal alcohol limit when he blew through a stop sign and smashed into a Spokane Transit Authority bus, breaking his passenger's femur and sending the bus driver to the hospital Wednesday night in northeast Spokane, according to court documents.

Kayden Norris was booked into the Spokane County Jail on suspicion of felony vehicular assault and made his first appearance Thursday in Spokane County Superior Court. It is unclear what his bond was Thursday afternoon.

The STA bus was traveling shortly after 9 p.m. south on Crestline Street when Norris, driving his white 2000 Honda CR-V west on Bruce Avenue, struck the bus in the intersection, according to witnesses and police in court records.

A preliminary breath test for Norris measured 0.22, well above the legal limit of 0.08 in Washington.

Norris' front passenger told police Norris had been drinking when he showed up to her apartment about four hours before the crash, court records say. They drove around the area, but due to Norris' drinking, she offered to switch seats with him. She said Norris was driving erratically, which scared her, and he was drinking a large can of Mike's Hard Lemonade during the drive.

Police found an open Mike's Hard Lemonade on the front passenger floorboard, according to court documents.

She told police she and Norris parked for a short time until it seemed like he sobered up. They then drove to his aunt's house near Bruce Road, where Norris went inside for about 45 minutes. He then returned to the car, started playing music loudly and drove recklessly at a high speed toward Crestline Street, she said. Norris "flew" through the stop sign at the intersection and barreled toward the side of the STA bus.

The crash broke her femur and she was taken to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center.

A witness driving on Crestline Street estimated Norris' speed at more than 50 mph.

The bus driver said in documents "his legs hurt and his head really hurt." He was taken to Providence Holy Family Hospital.

He was released from the hospital that night with no serious injuries, STA spokesperson Carly Cortright said.

The single passenger in the bus declined to speak with police or seek medical care, but told the driver they were "fine" other than their knee hurting, according to court records.

Police found the Honda with significant front-end damage and damage to the back of the car. The bus had a shattered front windshield and damage to the side.

The collision left the bus out of commission, Cortright said, and STA's in-house body shop estimated the damages will cost about $50,000 to fix.

"That is a serious accident," she said.

Norris told police he had one shot of alcohol and one beer around the middle of the day and took one hit from a marijuana bong that morning, according to court documents. He said he was driving 30 to 40 mph and arguing with his passenger when he collided with the bus.

Police wrote that Norris' speech was slurred, he smelled of "intoxicants" and he thought it was midnight, a couple hours later than it actually was. Norris had a bruise across his chest and a bloody knee. Police obtained a sample of Norris' blood at Holy Family Hospital.

Norris' next court hearing is an arraignment set for Wednesday. He remained in jail Thursday afternoon.

Cortright said the bus driver will be tested for drugs as part of STA's protocol to investigate when a bus is involved in a crash, even though the STA driver was not at fault.

"We still investigate to make sure there were no contributing factors on our part," she said.

The bus was assigned to Route 27, which follows Crestline Street. The driver was headed back to the downtown bus plaza when the crash occurred, according to Cortright.

STA operations will not be affected with one less bus on the road out of its more than 170-bus fleet, Cortright said.

She assured riders that city buses are safe.

"Fortunately, our buses are federally mandated to meet a certain safety standard," Cortright said. "So it's a pretty safe way to travel."

Elena Perry's work is funded in part by members of the Spokane community via the Community Journalism and Civic Engagement Fund. This story can be republished by other organizations for free under a Creative Commons license. For more information on this, please contact our newspaper's managing editor.

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