Car accidentally parks in boat slip

A man drove his black Audi into the water at La Conner Marina, and his car was spotted under water, five days later — on Thursday — when the tide went out.

Skagit County Sheriff’s Deputy Steve Wade said a 32-year-old Bellingham resident’s car apparently hit a guardrail at high speed and was launched into the drink. The accident occurred just before midnight on Saturday, Feb. 21, at the north end of Third Street, where it makes a sharp right turn and becomes Pearle Jensen Way.

Despite leaving blood all over a nearby restroom from an injury that occurred after the accident, the man was not seriously hurt and managed to climb out of the car and out of the water.

The first clue there had been an accident came last Monday, when Port of Skagit workers reported the broken guardrail, which is made of concrete and thick logs. They also found a broken sink and blood all over in a nearby marina restroom.

Still, there was no obvious evidence that a vehicle had gone into the water. The guardrail looked like a car may have hit it and took off.

That’s when the investigation began, Wade said.

On Monday, the driver’s attorney called the port office to say his client would pay for all the damage. Wade said the driver is talking only through his attorney, and “there are some questions missing answers,” he said.

The 2010 black Audi S4 was totaled when it was pulled out of the water under K dock slip SE in the marina’s north basin after dark on Thursday.

When Wade and marina staff first began searching for the vehicle after talking to the driver’s lawyer early in the week, the tide was 8 feet higher than on Thursday afternoon, when a faint outline of the vehicle could be seen through the murky brine.

Also, there were no tell-tale tire tracks leading from the broken guardrail down the bank and into the water. Wade said it appears the car either went airborne and landed in the water or rolled over the rail and into the mud.

He said it is possible that tidal action dragged it farther under water, where it was found mired pretty deeply in the mud.

“This is the weirdest thing I’ve seen,” Wade said. “You don’t see a Dukes of Hazard crash like this very often.”

The blood all over the restroom? Well, Wade said that according to the man’s attorney, that happened when the driver had gone in there to warm up and broke the sink while washing the mud off. He reportedly cut his arm on the broken sink.

It is possible to break a porcelain sink when you climb in it to wash your feet.

That same Monday morning, there was also blood found in the public restroom on South First Street, but Wade said at this point, there is nothing to tie the two messy bathrooms together.

Also, there is no way to tell whether the driver was intoxicated or just lost. Wade said that since the man is not a local, he may have thought he was headed out of town on La Conner Whitney Road, where the speed limit is 50 and there are no right-angle turns.

Wade said the worst crime the driver can be charged with is essentially a traffic ticket for hit-and-run with no injuries.

But the poor guy’s liable for more than $2,000 in damages to marina property, the price of a tow and the cost of a diver, who had to go in and hook up the cables to pull the car out of the water.

And his Audi, a $30,000 ride, is totaled. But at least he’s not on the hook for moorage, too.