Auburn woman hit by car remains hospitalized
AUBURN, Wash. -- Jason Ankerfelt has always kept his wife close to his heart; you'll now find her wedding band is the same way.
"The hardest part for me that entire night was when I initially saw her, (the doctors) asked me to remove her wedding ring from her finger," Ankerfelt said, "and I just couldn't do it."
He now keeps his wife Stacy's wedding band - and her engagement ring - on a chain around his neck. Stacy was wearing the rings on Thursday when police say a driver hit her as she was standing near her car, not far from her house on J Street in Auburn.
Stacy - a 5th grade teacher at Scenic Hill Elementary School in Kent - was thrown at least 30 feet, witnesses said. Investigators interviewed the driver, 20-year old Samuel Cruz of Bonney Lake, and noted that he appeared to be under the influence at the accident site. Police say Cruz admitted to taking prescription drugs.
Stacy was rushed to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with multiple skull fractures, a cerebral hemorrhage, and broken ribs, investigators say. Her injuries were deemed life-threatening.
"Somebody that I don't know, with no reasoning, changed my life, my wife's life, and he changed his own life," Jason Ankerfelt said, as he sat outside the hospital, taking a break from the bedside of his high school sweetheart. "Everything changed, and it didn't have to. I just hope there's a lesson to be taken out of this."
Police aren't sure what Stacy was doing standing outside her car before the accident. Investigators found her keys in the driver's-side door, said Commander Mike Hirman with the Auburn Police Department.
Jason believes Stacy may have been on her way to run errands for a craft project for her classroom next year. While school doesn't start for another six weeks, that's just the type of teacher she is, he says.
"She wants to give them whatever she can to get to the next level," Jason said. "She doesn't just open the door. She pushes them through it."
On Tuesday, prosecutors charged Cruz, 20, with vehicular assault. Cruz told investigators that he takes a drug called Suboxone for opiate dependency. Police say Cruz had trouble walking and maintaining his balance after the accident, when they took him to the hospital for a mandatory blood draw.
Cruz is scheduled to be arraigned on Aug. 6th. Friends, meantime, are taking to social media to raise money - and awareness - for her cause. They created the twitter hashtag #forstacy.
Jason, meantime, has been keeping a non-stop vigil at his wife's bedside. Her wedding bands, still in tact, are now on a chain around his neck.
On Tuesday, Stacy moved her toes upon command. Next week, the high school sweethearts celebrate their 6th wedding anniversary. Jason hopes to place his wife's engagement ring back on her finger that day.
"If that's intact and then love's still intact," he said, "and I felt like that would pull her through."
"The hardest part for me that entire night was when I initially saw her, (the doctors) asked me to remove her wedding ring from her finger," Ankerfelt said, "and I just couldn't do it."
He now keeps his wife Stacy's wedding band - and her engagement ring - on a chain around his neck. Stacy was wearing the rings on Thursday when police say a driver hit her as she was standing near her car, not far from her house on J Street in Auburn.
Stacy - a 5th grade teacher at Scenic Hill Elementary School in Kent - was thrown at least 30 feet, witnesses said. Investigators interviewed the driver, 20-year old Samuel Cruz of Bonney Lake, and noted that he appeared to be under the influence at the accident site. Police say Cruz admitted to taking prescription drugs.
Stacy was rushed to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with multiple skull fractures, a cerebral hemorrhage, and broken ribs, investigators say. Her injuries were deemed life-threatening.
"Somebody that I don't know, with no reasoning, changed my life, my wife's life, and he changed his own life," Jason Ankerfelt said, as he sat outside the hospital, taking a break from the bedside of his high school sweetheart. "Everything changed, and it didn't have to. I just hope there's a lesson to be taken out of this."
Police aren't sure what Stacy was doing standing outside her car before the accident. Investigators found her keys in the driver's-side door, said Commander Mike Hirman with the Auburn Police Department.
Jason believes Stacy may have been on her way to run errands for a craft project for her classroom next year. While school doesn't start for another six weeks, that's just the type of teacher she is, he says.
"She wants to give them whatever she can to get to the next level," Jason said. "She doesn't just open the door. She pushes them through it."
On Tuesday, prosecutors charged Cruz, 20, with vehicular assault. Cruz told investigators that he takes a drug called Suboxone for opiate dependency. Police say Cruz had trouble walking and maintaining his balance after the accident, when they took him to the hospital for a mandatory blood draw.
Cruz is scheduled to be arraigned on Aug. 6th. Friends, meantime, are taking to social media to raise money - and awareness - for her cause. They created the twitter hashtag #forstacy.
Jason, meantime, has been keeping a non-stop vigil at his wife's bedside. Her wedding bands, still in tact, are now on a chain around his neck.
On Tuesday, Stacy moved her toes upon command. Next week, the high school sweethearts celebrate their 6th wedding anniversary. Jason hopes to place his wife's engagement ring back on her finger that day.
"If that's intact and then love's still intact," he said, "and I felt like that would pull her through."
http://www.giveforward.com/medical-expenses-fundraiser/forstacy
 Here is the link you can donate to. Please send out and post to as many people as you can. Thank you all for your donations, prayers and continued support!
I know exactly what she is going through after having a similar experience last october. She is world class doctors and nurses at Harborview, I have a feeling she will make it out of this ok. I am hoping for the best.
Best wishes, prayers, and good thoughts for Stacy and her husband. I hope she makes a full recovery.
She's in expert hands at Harborview. Those folks work miracles. Hope and pray Stacy gets one of them.
Prayers are with you Jason and your wife Stacy. I hope she recovers fully and soon. Happy 6th Anniversary.
Another crime by a selfish DUI driver and the epidemic of hurting, maiming or killing so many innocent people goes unabated. I hope the Ankerfelt's have much success receiving funds and support. Here's wishing a speedy and thorough recovery for Stacy. Here's a tweet I read tonight that made me think hard in how skewered our society is:
Â
The shooter in Aurora Colorada will have healthcare while in prison - the shooting victims could lose everything to pay medical bills.
Â
Disgusting, isn't it?
Â
And people think drugs should be legal.
Mr. Ankerfelt, May you and your sweetheart be back together sharing a laugh again very soon.Â
What an absolute pathetic JOKE of a "justice" system. Justice for whom?
Â
Nearly a week to be charged? 3 weeks for an arraignment? Probably take 2 years for the trial. Evidence lost. A wimpy, leftwing judge. Next to no sentence.
Â
It's been 3 years since the massacre by the muslim at Fort Hood. Still no trial. What a corrupt system.
 @da_truth Wow, in one post you called out local police investigators, county court officials, assumed all judges are left-wing and whimpy, and then jumped to the Court Martial of a solider at Fort Hood that has nothing to do with any of this?
Â
Put down whatever it is you're drinking, it is hurting your brain.
Â
Â
Why am I not surprised that he was under the influence?Â
Friggin heroin addict. So many hard core drug addicts think that their not hurting anybody but themselves. Go tell it to Stacy.
@I Like Meat I think your thinking of Methadone.
 @I Like Meat suboxone is generally prescribed to people who become dependent on prescription pain killers, not heroin addiction.
please contribute @Â http://www.giveforward.com/forstacy
This is so avoidable, yet so many people are wounded or killed by idiots driving under the influence! So sad...and frustrating!
"appeared to be under the influence" Â Ya think?? Â I am so tired of the selfishness of the people who take drugs (prescription or not--many prescription drugs have the warning to not attempt operating machinery of driving)) or drink and drive. Â I hope Stacy recovers quickly and completely.
 @mywingsfly Yeah, this guys only 20 and already been in rehab for pills.  Stacy, I am praying  for your speedy recovery.  Jason and I were sailors in Anything Goes together!Â