Deputy pleads not guilty to felony stemming from crash that led to man's legs being amputated

EVERETT, Wash. -- A Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy pleaded not guilty Monday to felony assault charges, after an accident that led to the amputation of a Darrington man's  legs.

Prosecutors say the deputy, John Sardo, caused the April 2015 accident by speeding and running a stop sign.

Keith Owens says he heard the car collide with another vehicle at the intersection of Rockefeller Avenue and 23rd Street in Everett.

“I heard like a long screech and then a boom,” Owens said at the time.

According to the Washington State Patrol, the 55-year-old Sardo was in his patrol car driving south on Rockefeller Avenue when he collided with a Honda Element driving down 23rd Street. Both cars started spinning. The deputy’s vehicle ended up crashing into a parked pickup truck, pinning the legs of 60-year-old Thomas Gillette, who was getting tools out of the truck at the time.

“He was just in a shocked mode asking what happened,” says Owens.

Gillette suffered such severe injuries that both his legs had to be amputated. The sheriff’s office helped remodel his home to make it wheelchair accessible.

On May 5, prosecutors filed vehicular assault charges against Sardo. The charging documents say Sardo not only ran the stop sign, but he was also driving up to 49 mph in a posted 25 mph zone for nearly 20 seconds before the crash.

The sheriff’s office placed Sardo on modified desk duty immediately, and he will no longer be on patrol. He’ll be arraigned on May 23, and could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.