A man who prosecutors describe as a ‘prolific offender’ is now charged with running down a Seattle couple in a crosswalk while he ran a red light on his motorcycle last month.
Tyler Shane O’Brien, 43, of Seattle, faces counts of vehicular homicide, felony hit and run, and vehicular assault for the April 18 crash that killed 57-year-old Min Huang and critically injured her husband.
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According to charging documents, O’Brien had a suspended license and was under the supervision of the Washington Department of Corrections (DOC) at the time of the crash.
Investigators allege O’Brien was on his motorcycle when he arrived at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Way South and South Alaska Street, waited for cross traffic to clear, and then ran through the red light.
Huang and her husband were crossing in the crosswalk on the other side of the intersection when O’Brien directly barreled into both of them, violently knocking them to the ground. O’Brien then rode away on the motorcycle, leaving the couple in the street.
Huang initially survived her injuries, but died in the hospital a few days later.
Seattle police put out a notice asking for tips about the identity of the motorcycle rider
O’Brien, meanwhile, was arrested on a DOC warrant on April 25. Two days after his arrest, someone in the area of 55th Avenue South called 911 and reported seeing three people move a motorcycle with no license plates onto an abandoned property.
Police obtained a search warrant for the property and found the damaged motorcycle, which was registered to O’Brien.
Investigators then learned that O’Brien’s location was being tracked by another law enforcement agency on the day of the collision.
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While the police report doesn’t say which law enforcement agency was tracking O’Brien’s location that day or why, the phone data shows him in the same place and time as the collision, according to the charges.
Prosecutors said they matched Metro bus video and Seattle Department of Transportation video that shows O’Brien on the motorcycle before and during the crash.
“At the intersection with S. Alaska Street, (O’Brien) rode into the left turn only lane, waited for traffic to clear and then deliberately rode through the red light, into the southbound lanes,” Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Amy Freedheim wrote in charging documents. “He takes no evasive action and strikes a couple who are legally walking across MLK Jr. Way in the crosswalk. He failed to stop to give aid, call police, or provide any required information.”
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O’Brien has a lengthy criminal history including convictions for burglary, auto theft, fleeing police, speeding, driving without insurance, and property destruction.
He also has a prior charge of tampering with a witness in Montana.
O’Brien was booked into the King County Jail on Tuesday and is being held on a bail of $500,000
