Woman pleads guilty in crash that killed son

A Snoqualmie city official who left the scene of a car crash that killed her son pleaded guilty to hit-and-run charges Thursday.

Last November, Debra Whalawitsa, 49, was driving with her 29-year-old son, Calijah. The two were returning from a North Bend bar around 1 a.m. when Whalawitsa lost control of her Ford Taurus and careened down an embankment near Snoqualmie, according to court documents.

The impact ejected her son. The car landed about 10 feet from the Snoqualmie River.

According to court documents, Whalawitsa, Snoqualmie's administrative-services director, walked home after the crash and returned with her younger son around 3 a.m., the left the scene again to go home and sleep.

A jogger saw the wrecked car later in the morning and called police.

An hour later Whalawitsa returned to the scene, where she was met by police.

In November, Whalawitsa's lawyer, David Allen, told The Seattle Times his client was dazed and confused from the wreck and thought her son had left the site.

Because she had no criminal history, Whalawitsa is eligible for a first-time offender waiver, which brings a lighter sentence of 90 days in custody -- a mix of work release, home monitoring and community service -- instead of 2 ½ years for the hit-and-run charge, said Dan Donohoe, a spokesman for the King County Prosecutor's Office.

The prosecutor's office is recommending the lighter sentence, but the final sentencing will be decided by a judge, he said.

Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 24.

Donohoe added there was insufficient evidence to charge Whalawitsa with vehicular homicide.

Whalawitsa had told police she had two glasses of wine that evening at a wedding.

But Donohoe said Friday there was inconclusive evidence Whalawitsa was under the influence of alcohol.

Manuel Valdes: mvaldes@seattletimes.com or 206-748-5874. Material from The Seattle Times archives is included in this report.