PORT ANGELES — The driver who hit a 93-year-old author and former Port Angeles City Council member while she was crossing Race Street last week has been cited for second-degree negligent driving.
Lorraine Ross was listed in satisfactory condition at Olympic Medical Center on Saturday.
Port Angeles Police Officer Dallas Maynard said Friday that Don Hales, 69, of Port Angeles had been cited for hitting Ross with his car as she was crossing Race Street in a crosswalk near Civic Field at about 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Ross, speaking by phone from her hospital bed, has said she suffered a broken arm, among other injuries.
Second-degree negligent driving, a traffic infraction, carries a maximum penalty of $250, according to state statutes.
According to police accounts, Hales was headed southbound on Race Street in his passenger car as Ross was crossing eastbound when the car struck her.
“We haven’t determined the speed,” said Deputy Police Chief Brian Smith on Saturday.
The Police Department has said neither alcohol nor drugs appeared to be a factor in the accident.
Hales’ wife, Darlene, told the Peninsula Daily News he was a senior pastor for the Lower Elwha Assembly of God Church for 20 years and that they both remain active in the ministry.
Ross had a real estate office in Port Angeles for 32 years, retiring in 1995, and served as a City Council member from 1970 to 1978.
She published her own tourist guide, Port Angeles This Week, while working at the Port Angeles Evening News, Clallam County Shopper and her business, Publicity by Lorraine.
She co-authored Port Angeles, U.S.A.: Centennial Edition, 1862-1962 in 1962.
In 2008, she published a book about her brother, Ken Wilcox, founder of Back Country Horsemen of Washington.
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Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
Reporter Rob Ollikainen contributed to this report.
