Woman sentenced for crash that killed her son

A Snoqualmie city official whose son died in what a judge called "every parent's nightmare" was sentenced to 90 days of electronic home detention Friday.

The sentence was imposed on Debra Whalawitsa, 49, whose son, Calijah, 29, died in the crash of a car she was driving in Snoqualmie on Nov. 19.

Whalawitsa pleaded guilty to a hit-and-run charge in June and was sentenced in King County Superior Court.

On their way home from a wedding, Whalawitsa and her son stopped at a North Bend bar and left about 1 a.m., according to court records.

The car went off a roadway at Boalch Avenue Southeast and Southeast Park Avenue in Snoqualmie and came to rest near the Snoqualmie River.

The car was found by a jogger several hours later, and investigators concluded Calijah Whalawitsa was thrown from the vehicle and died instantly. His mother left the scene and never contacted law-enforcement agencies, according to court records. She returned to the scene about 10 hours later.

At her sentencing, Whalawitsa told Judge Paris Kallas that she was disoriented and confused, and she thought her son had survived and had set out for home. She discovered hours later that he had died.

"I am very sorry," she said. "I truly was not in my normal state of mind. I made a wrong decision that night. My family's life has now changed forever. The pain has been so immense, I cry almost every night."

Her attorney, David Allen, told the court that the accident happened while she was distracted by her son, who was "very upset and distraught in the car," and that she was not intoxicated.

Both the defense and prosecution agreed on a recommendation that Whalawitsa be sentenced under a first-time-offender provision of state law that allows 90 days of incarceration, rather than the 31 to 41 months called for under standard state-sentencing guidelines.

The recommendations differed, however, on how the 90 days should be served, and Kallas said she agreed with a recommendation by Allen that the term be fulfilled completely through electronic home detention.

The sentence will allow Whalawitsa to continue to keep her job as Snoqualmie's administrative-services director, a position she worked her way up to over 19 years. Robert Larson, Snoqualmie's city administrator, spoke on her behalf, noting that she is one of the city's seven senior managers and is remorseful and contrite about the incident.

Peyton Whitely: 206-464-2259 or pwhitely@seattletimes.com.