Arrest made in Slater Road DUI vehicular assault case after waiting a year for laboratory results

FERNDALE, Wash. — Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) deputies arrived at the Ferndale home of a vehicular assault suspect and placed her under arrest a year after she was found at the scene of a crash on Slater Road. The arrest was made the day toxicology results were received that revealed her blood alcohol level was 0.21.

According to the affidavit of probable cause filed in Whatcom County Superior Court, WCSO deputies were dispatched to a report of a single-vehicle crash in the 1800 blook of Slater Road about 2:20am on December 11, 2022. They arrived to find the suspect, Valarie Marie Evans, age 54, standing outside her vehicle reporting to have struck a deer.

Soon after arriving, deputies heard someone yelling for help nearby. They located an injured man in a second vehicle down a steep embankment with a leg injury.

The injured driver told deputies of having been struck head-on by a vehicle in his lane on a corner. A witness corroborated that information.

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Evans was asked if she remembered colliding with another vehicle and she said she did not. Deputies had reason to believe that Evans was intoxicated and obtained a warrant for a blood draw while she was in the hospital for her injuries.

She was not booked into the jail while law enforcement awaited the blood analysis results from the Washington State Patrol (WSP) toxicology laboratory. Those results were received by WCSO on December 28, 2023.

The current toxicology lab in Seattle is on track to receive over 17,000 case submissions in 2023, a 13% rise from year-to-date figures in 2022. WSP has seen a 45% increase in requests for toxicology services in the past 10 years resulting in a current median turn-around time for DUI analysis of 343 days. Washington State Patrol (December 5, 2023)

Evans currently faces a felony charge of vehicular assault while under the influence with substantial bodily harm. She was released from custody after posting a $1,000 cash bail on December 29, 2023. She later posted a $5,000 bail bond on January 11th.

A new $4.5M, 11,700 square foot toxicology laboratory was recently built in Federal Way and dedicated on December 7, 2023. “The addition of the new facility will help to eventually reduce, then eliminate, case backlogs caused by a decade of rapidly increasing demand for toxicology services across the state,” said WSP Chief John Batiste.