5 chilling details about the Kristen Grindley case
A graduate of the University of Washington, Kristen Grindley, was found in a severely injured state by a passerby on November 11, 2009, along the Pullman-Albion Road.
Trigger warning: This article contains graphic information about violence.
Her ex-boyfriend Richard Pasma was made a person of interest after evidence pointed toward him. Investigators believe Grindley fell out of a truck that Pasma was driving.
Grindley, who sustained serious injuries from the incident, can now walk and talk and is headed on her road to recovery.
In its episode titled The Mystery on Albion Road, Dateline: Secrets Uncovered is slated to look into this hit-and-run case. The episode will air on August 10, 8:00 PM EST.
The synopsis of the episode goes as follows:
A young woman is found in the middle of the road, nearly dead; with little evidence to go on, investigators hope to find out what happened from the victim herself, but she can't remember.
Read on to find out more details about the case
Here are 5 chilling facts about the Kristen Grindley hit-and-run case
1) Investigators believe Grindley was either pushed, or she fell out of the vehicle
According to investigators, Grindley, who was riding in her ex-boyfriend Pasma's truck the night before she was found unconscious, was either pushed out of the truck or fell out of it by accident.
The next day, a passerby saw her body lying on Pullman-Albion Road and thought it was a deer. She was barely clothed and was barely clinging on to life.
2) She sustained severe injuries, including a fractured skull
Grindley was airlifted to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, where she underwent treatment. At the time of her admission, she had a fractured skull, a broken shoulder, a broken ankle, and a broken nose, in addition to several cuts and bruises.
3) Richard Pasma was sentenced to nine months in jail
Ricard Pasma, who did not plead guilty, was sentenced to nine months in prison. The judge who sentenced him to jail said that he was given the maximum amount of jail time possible, and anything less would amount to being "a slap in the face to Ms. Grindley." Pasma had no previous criminal record.
4) Grindley alleged being abused by Pasma
After regaining memories from that fateful night, Grindley said she remembered trying to get into Pasma's truck. However, it was not clear to her how she fell out.
According to prosecutors, Pasma should have alerted the medical authorities after the incident. Interestingly, she also said that she was a victim of domestic abuse while she was living-in with him.
5) Pasma's attorney asserted that Grindley was responsible for her own accident
Tim Esser, Pasma's attorney, asserted that Grindley was intoxicated when she fell out of the car. He wrote in a brief,
The defense asserts that the only one responsible for Kristen Grindley's injuries is Kristen Grindley; that in an obsessive and intoxicated moment, she climbed into the back of Pasma's pickup and somehow managed to fall out - without his knowledge.
Esser also produced a hand-written note by Grindley in which she said she wanted to "fix" her relationship with her boyfriend by reducing her drinking habits.
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