Driver pleads not guilty to vehicular homicide

Published 5:27 pm Wednesday, March 19, 2014

by Sequim Gazette staff

Gene Sidney Mensik pleaded not guilty May 6 to vehicular homicide and hit-and-run fatality charges in the death of Scott Franklin.

Clallam County Deputy Prosecutor Ann Lundwall said at the arraignment there may be additional aggravating factors filed.

Mensik is accused of driving drunk and fatally hitting Franklin around 7:15 a.m. on April 21. Franklin was out for a walk on the 600 block of East Washington Street when Mensik drove his Jeep Wrangler onto the sidewalk and struck Franklin from behind, police said.

Mensik continued driving 11 blocks through Sequim and was confronted by police after stopping his car in a parking lot, police said.

According to court documents, Mensik’s blood-alcohol level registered 0.147 on a portable breathalyzer. The legal limit is 0.08.

Franklin was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in critical condition and died two days later.

Mensik remains in custody at the Clallam County jail in lieu of $200,000 bond. His trial is set for June 27.