VANCOUVER, Wash. (KOIN) — A man was arrested Wednesday after authorities said he hit a Walmart employee, left the scene and potentially suffered from an overdose in a stolen car.
The incident began shortly before 1 p.m. at the store at 9000 NE Highway 99. Surveillance video shows a car slowly moving into the pedestrian area at the entrance to the Walmart store and hit the employee, 81-year-old Roberts Harris, along with a Salvation Army collection bucket.
The driver — later identified as Michael Alan Huston — got out of the car, grabbed his backpack and took off.
Multiple witnesses, including a Salvation Army bell ringer, provided information to deputies when they arrived. The bell ringer told investigators he “had to use my ninja skills an jump out of the way” to avoid being hit.
They also provided deputies with the license plate, which is how authorities figured out the car was stolen, a description of the driver and the direction he was heading.
Deputies found Huston in the narrow center median separating north and southbound lanes on I-5 between Northeast 78th Street and 99th Street.
Huston, 23, appeared to be sleeping or passed out, prompting a struggle before deputies were able to detain him. A deputy suffered minor injuries.
Authorities gave him a dose of Narcan and he was taken to a local hospital for treatment of possible overdose symptoms.
Huston was later booked into the Clark County Jail for felony hit-and-run, possession of a stolen car, possession of a controlled substance, possession of burglary tools and felony warrant for his arrest by the Department of Corrections.