Victims of deadly crash award hero detective $85,000.00 scholarship for her alma mater

Jim Wohlpart (CWU President), Det. Jeanne Walford, Me, Patti Cole-Tindall (KC Sheriff), Lisa Benedetti, Kristin Michaud.

In the first such event of its kind, our surviving clients established an Eighty-Five Thousand Dollar ($85,000.00) scholarship to honor the heroic efforts of King County Detective Jeanne Walford.

The fatal crash occurred on July 25, 2019 when a phantom vehicle was improperly changing lanes. It almost hit a car which then over corrected and drove over the median. Plowed into an airporter bus. And flipped it onto its side. The phantom vehicle left the scene.

A group of coworkers, flight crew and others were on the bus. One of the coworkers was Bryan Panzanaro from New York. A husband and father of four daughters.

Mr. Panzanaro was killed. The remaining survivors suffered head injuries, broken bones and other physical and emotional harms.

The scene was investigated by members of the Major Accident Response and Reconstruction Unit of KCSO. And by the National Traffic Safety Board.

Most phantom drivers are not located after leaving an incident site. But Det. Walford was determined to track down this one. For the next six months, she literally turned over every stone. She and her team reviewed surveillance videos from the Port of Seattle, local businesses, and any Metro bus in the area. They found a video that showed the black car improperly merging. She could not make out the license plate but knew it was a black Toyota Prius with a missing hubcap. She and her team tried to physically track down the vehicle. Many possible drivers were stopped and questioned. But there were too many.

Her next step was to subpoena Lyft and Uber. Both companies cooperated. She scoured their computer data for driver locations. Finally her persistence paid off. Det. Walford located the Lyft driver.

The survivors uphold Det. Walford and her work as being an example of excellence in protecting and serving the community. By locating the phantom driver, she profoundly impacted the civil litigation of the wrongful death and personal injury cases.

Det. Walford attended Central Washington University which she has designated as the recipient of the donation. Her wish is to further her profession and its use of STEM by providing a scholarship to support deserving students in the Law and Justice Department at her alma mater. The scholarship donors are:

• The Family of Bryan R. Panzanaro (represented by The Stritmatter Firm)

• David Scott Hutchison (represented by The Stritmatter Firm)

• Stephen G. Clay (represented by The Stritmatter Firm)

• Jeffrey Cushman (represented by The Stritmatter Firm)

• Sheryl Foley (represented by The Stritmatter Firm)

• Oliva Pascua (represented by Adler Giersch)

• John Weatherwax (represented by McMenamin & McMenamin)

Stritmatter Firm counsel in this case were Karen Koehler, Lisa Benedetti, Shannon Kilpatrick, and Andrew Ackley. Kristin Michaud paralegal.

Photo: Julia Canfield 7.31.23