PORT ANGELES — Michael J. Moyle likes to drive fast and pass other cars.
But he denied in an interview with police that he intentionally rammed a car on South Laurel Street last spring, injuring two adults and two young children.
In a recording of the interview played during his trial Wednesday in Clallam County Superior Court, Moyle admitted to hitting the car, a Subaru sedan, with his Ford Mustang on April 13, though he claimed the wreck was unintentional and said he was “just having fun.”
“I have a Mustang,” he said. “I was going fast.”
“I drive my car fast everywhere,” Moyle later added.
“I got the tickets to prove it.”
Both vehicles were heading southbound. Moyle, 29, said he was passing cars while driving about 55 mph when the sedan turned in front of him.
“He swerved in front of me . . . I couldn’t help it,” he said, sounding tearful.
The impact sent the sedan into a telephone pole, seriously injuring 4-year-old Aaron Baker, who was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle to be treated for a head injury.
The other occupants, Stewart Baker, Tawny Baker and Lavender Baker, who was 2 at the time, were treated at Olympic Medical Center.
All have recovered.
Stewart Baker, who was driving the sedan, provided a different account Tuesday.
He testified that Moyle had chased him from the parking lot at Albertsons, 114 E. Lauridsen Blvd., south on Laurel Street before intentionally ramming him near Viewcrest Avenue.
In the parking lot, Stewart Baker, 25, said Moyle pulled up next to his car and smoked his tires before turning around and stopping behind him.
Moyle looked “extremely pissed off,” and his eyes were “bulging out of his head,” Stewart Baker said.
“It was like he had seen his worst enemy.”
Both denied ever having seen each other before.
Moyle, in the police interview, denied chasing the Bakers and admitted to fleeing the scene in his friend’s truck after his car failed to start.
“I thought I killed some kids,” he said. “That’s why I took off. I didn’t know what to do.”
Moyle was arrested April 17 in a Port Angeles home.
He is charged with two counts of second-degree assault of a child, four counts of vehicular assault, second-degree assault and intentional infliction of bodily harm, second-degree assault and hit-and-run.
Moyle’s trial is expected to finish today.
His friend, Timothy P. Smith, turned himself in to police April 14.
Smith is charged with second-degree rendering criminal assistance and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.
His trial is scheduled to begin Feb. 21.
During the investigation, police arrested Smith for allegedly possessing methamphetamine and a stolen motorcycle.
He was charged with second-degree possession of stolen property and possession of a controlled substance.
The case was dismissed in November after it was found he had had permission to have the motorcycle, Clallam County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney John Troberg said.
Troberg couldn’t recall why the methamphetamine possession charge was dropped.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
