Trial date set in Sequim hit-and-run case

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, June 11, 2025

A tentative trial start date for a Sequim man’s hit-and-run case is now set.

Judge Elizabeth Stanley scheduled the six-day trial for Cole William Douglas, 22, to begin on Aug. 25 in Clallam County Superior Court, but lawyers agreed that due to the amount of discovery in the case, that start date will likely need to be extended, according to court documents.

A hearing status update is set for 1 p.m. July 18.

Douglas, represented by defense attorney William Payne, pleaded not guilty on June 6 to felony charges of hit-and-run with injury, and vehicular assault. He could face up to five and 10 years and $10,000 and $20,000 in fines for each of the charges.

He is accused of a hit-and-run incident that seriously injured 13-year-old Colton Dufour while the boy was skateboarding with friends around 9 p.m. on March 31 on the 600 block of West Spruce Street behind Safeway. Dufour was struck from behind by a vehicle and now faces months of rehabilitation therapy, according to his mother.

At Douglas’ initial hearing on May 27, Clallam County Prosecutor Mark Nichols, filling in for Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Steven Johnson, requested bail be set at $250,000 due to a concern of a flight risk.

Douglas was arrested on May 21 in Oklahoma and flown back to Clallam County where he was booked into the Clallam County Jail on May 23.

Payne said on May 27 that Douglas is from Sequim, has family there that he can stay with, and that the court should consider an ankle bracelet with tracking for him.

“He will appear as ordered,” he said.

When asked by Judge Brent Basden, Nichols said Douglas didn’t have a criminal history.

Basden said he had some concern about Douglas not appearing in court, but he was unsure if Douglas was contacted and asked to return voluntarily from Oklahoma.

Basden set bail at $20,000, which Douglas posted on May 29.

The vehicle suspected to have been involved in the incident, a 1996 Lexus sedan, was also located in Muskogee, Oklahoma.

A Washington state warrant went out for Douglas’ arrest on April 8, and a nationwide warrant went out on May 8.