Kent teacher struck by allegedly impaired driver dies
SEATTLE -- A 5th grade teacher at Kent's Scenic Hill Elementary School has died a month after she was struck by a car near her Auburn home, according to the King County Prosecutor's Office.
Stacy Ankerfelt was hit on July 19 as she was standing near her own car and the impact threw her 30 feet, investigators said. She was rushed to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with multiple skull fractures, a cerebral hemorrhage, and broken ribs.
Police say the driver of the car, 20-year-old Samuel Cruz of Bonney Lake, appeared to be under the influence at the accident site and admitted to taking prescription drugs.
After the accident, Cruz told investigators that he takes a drug called Suboxone for opiate dependency, police said. Investigators said Cruz had trouble walking and maintaining his balance after the accident when they took him to the hospital for a mandatory blood draw.
Cruz has already been charged with vehicular assault, but prosecutors now plan to amend those charges to vehicular homicide, said Dan Donohoe with the King County Prosecutor's Office. Cruz will then be re-arraigned at a future date.
Stacy Ankerfelt was hit on July 19 as she was standing near her own car and the impact threw her 30 feet, investigators said. She was rushed to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with multiple skull fractures, a cerebral hemorrhage, and broken ribs.
Police say the driver of the car, 20-year-old Samuel Cruz of Bonney Lake, appeared to be under the influence at the accident site and admitted to taking prescription drugs.
After the accident, Cruz told investigators that he takes a drug called Suboxone for opiate dependency, police said. Investigators said Cruz had trouble walking and maintaining his balance after the accident when they took him to the hospital for a mandatory blood draw.
Cruz has already been charged with vehicular assault, but prosecutors now plan to amend those charges to vehicular homicide, said Dan Donohoe with the King County Prosecutor's Office. Cruz will then be re-arraigned at a future date.
This story is obviously not being reported properly. Suboxone has absolutely no effect on a persons balance or awareness. However, if he was on Suboxone it was almost certainly because he is being treated for drug addiction. Perhaps he was high on something else. By this time the police will know whether he had anything else in his system, and if thats the case, why is this not being reported.
 @David P Actually, Suboxone does have an affect on ones ability to walk correctly and/or talk without stutters. It also causes one to become incoherent, how do I know? Because I have a neighbor who is on Suboxone and she becomes unbalanced and is unable to even speak correctly....So, yes I do believe this man caused the death of this woman because he was using/abusing Suboxone.Â
The problem is the guy was a idiot reckless driver, It had nothing to do with the Suboxone. Maybe he is using it as a excuse but Suboxone does not alter your mind what so ever.
Such a sad story. I hope the guy gets the book thrown at him. She seemed like a good person, and she was really cute too...
So sad.. RIP. It might be an interesting stat to show how many people have been killed by drunks vs killed by guns in the last 5 years.. I'll guess the drunks have a 10-1 advantage but the guns get 10x the press. We've almost decided that while its wrong to drink and drive, its still not a big enough deal to really punish them by locking them up for life when they kill somebody.
Is sad but this is what our world is coming to. No one is safe anymore anywhere. Whether it be in your own home, exiting your car, shopping in a grocery store or watching a movie in a theater. This is a sad reality that no one wants to accept.
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My heart goes out to Stacy's friends and family. Do I think the kid should get the death penalty? No. It wasn't intentional or premeditated. HOWEVER he should be punished because regardless if it was accidental or not, fact is he was driving under the influence and was intoxicated by a prescription medication.
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I have zero tolerance for anyone who drives under the influence of drugs, alcohol, prescription medications or any other mind altering substance. The law should have zero tolerance as well, especially in cases where others are injured or killed because of someone's recklessness.
RIP Stacy Ankerfelt. It's an accident that could have been avoided. The directions for the use of Suboxone is written on the bottle and in the literature when you pick up the drug as followed. Use caution when driving, operating machinery, or performing other hazardous activities. Suboxone may cause drowsiness, dizziness, or impaired thinking. If you experience drowsiness, dizziness, or impaired thinking, avoid these activities. Avoid alcohol while taking this medicine. Alcohol may dangerously increase drowsiness and dizziness caused by the medication. Catch the bus, train, or call a cab if you need to be somewhere. No excuse.
@Hehateme This had nothing to do with Suboxone. I work with drug addicted kids and I have not seen a single one of them with any side effect to Suboxone other than possible very mild drowsiness in the first day or so.There are some other medications however that when combined with Suboxone can cause exactly the symptoms that this kid exhibited. We had one kid who almost died when he took hyoscyamine (an irritable bowel med) along with Suboxone. he got an almost fatal drop in blood pressure.  I think we need to get to the facts of this case before we start making these judgements . This may have been a kid desperately trying to turn his life round and something went badly wrong.
I hope they stick a wall sized poster of Stacy up in his cell.
This is so sad, I went to school with Stacy she was such a nice person and she didnt deserve to have her life ended like this. Prayers to her family!
This does appear to have been an accident but this young man should be held accountable for his actions. I think the prosecution does have a strong case for the death penalty but the least this man should get is many, many years in prison. Just because it was an 'accident' does not excuse one from what he/she did. This man KILLED another human being. Prayers and condolences to Stacy's family.
 @Koreanman012 The death penalty, are you kidding me. He was not even drunk, the guy was on Subboxone which does not impair the way you drive and it was a accident. He was trying to get help for his opiate addiction. They give subboxone to people to get off of opiates and it is not even a pain killer, it tricks your mind into thinking you are on painkillers to keep people have having painfull withdrawls. I feel for the family but I also feel for the guy that hit her.Â
@Chitownhawksfan Suboxone is just as mind-altering as the opiates and people get just as dependant on those as they are on the narcotics. It's like replacing heroin with Methadone. Methadone is supposed to help with heroin addiction but its just replacing one bad drug with another.
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He shouldn't have been behind the wheel. Plain and simple. He is just as guilty as if he was drunk. Same difference.
 @Tattooed_Angel  @Chitownhawksfan It is NOTHING like methadone, I used to take suboxone and it was because I was legally on opiates for 2 years and decided myself i wanted to stop and Suboxone worked great. I have no idea where you get your mind-altering idea from. It is nothing like what you are making it out to be. I used to drive, work, do anything on subboxone and it never altered my mind at all, not even close. Why dont you talk to someone who has been on the sub before you start judging. It is sad this lady lost her life and he was a idiot driver but i know for a fact it had nothing to do with the subboxone!!!
 @Chitownhawksfan  If that drug impairs his ability to drive, why did he decide to drive...? It's just like drinking and driving. Call a cab or have someone pick you up and don't put other people's lives in danger. Simple as that. Death penalty maybe a lil overboard but definetly put some years on his life for a lesson learned.Â
 @Chitownhawksfan  @angkor_warrior everyone responds differently to things that are put in our bodies, just because your body responded a certain way to a certain combination of substances doesn't mean that anyone else will respond the same way... that is why they do clinical trials.
 @angkor_warrior It does not at all impair the ability to do anything, I was on it for 6 months and it did nothing of the sort, all it does is trick your brain that you are on opiates without the mind altering feeling of taking a opiate. It is nothing at all like Methadone.Â
@Koreanman012.....if everyone had read the Court Papers, filed in King County, they would see that Sam was and is a repeat OFFENDER. Did he mean to kill a beautiful, innocent bystander? Probably not. However, the papers clearly state that Sam was already in trouble for DUI -that stands for Driving Under the Influence, which he WAS...IN ENUMCLAW. Was he on notice that what he was doing was not only Dangerous but ILLEGAL? YES, he was. Was this "accident" preventable? Most certainly, YES. Stop making excuses. If you ask Jason if he wants Sam killed, he would probably say, "No". But, I agree with the above posting...there are consequences for choices. And, this was not Sam's first run-in with this kind of dangerous choice. And, he is 25 years old...time to grow up and take responsibility.
....does anyone wonder why his bail was set at 100K, three weeks before Stacy's death??
...and just one more thing...according to the official court documents, NO DRIVER'S LICENSE, either..... Respect for the Law? Life? Who knows, however, not looking very positive.
As one of Stacy's neighboors and someone who was present the day of this tragic 'ACCIDENT" i would like to respectfully say something: The event that happend on July 19th was tragic, life changing (FOR MANY) , potentially preventable (for many reasons) and a tragic accident! While your, the readers, responses and condolances are appreciated and respected (for the most part) the greater reality is that you (generally speaking) are News watching/reading spectators of something I witnessed, was apart of and that has forever changed  mine, my fellow neighboors/community, Stacys familyand husband and Sams familys lives. The loss of Stacy's life was unessary BUT the life she lived was beautiful and not in vain.Not to take aways from this great loss to our community, BUT there is another side to this story the NEWS has not told you all -
Sam, the young man who hit Stacy, recently moved out to Washington, to get his life together, to get sober and build a better life for himself. He had been living with his Aunt and Uncle, going to church, had a job (which he was coming home from the day of the accident) and had gotten sober (the reason he was on the Suboxone).While the side effects of Suboxone may have "impaired" his ability to dirve and to even make the judgment of whether or not he should have drove...we still need to call it what it was AN ACCIDENT. And I can tell you first hand, Stacy would be the LAST person to be calling a death sentance on Sam. Sam came to Auburn, Washington seeking asylum from his former life...Stacy would have been a cheerleader for him. We should be too! Could Sam have made some other choices to NOT drive after having taken a LEGALLY prescribed medication, YES...but a witch hunt or death sentance is the last thing this kid needs to prove a point to himself or to be made an example of for anyone else. What WE as a community should be hoping for is that Sam use this opportunity to GROW, STAY SOBER and Educate/teach/inform others about the dangers of driving impaired. This is what Stacy would have wanted....and so should we...  In the words of the late/great Paul Harvey "And thats the rest of the story"
@Alisa C. Thank God. A person with a heart, a brain and a soul. So rare on this message board. Well said.
@Alisa C. Do not use Stacy's name to bolster YOUR cheerleading squad for this driver that killed her. Plain and simple he was impaired and driving and took my family member's life! End of story! I don't care what his "boo-hoo" story is as to why he was impaired.
Sorry Alisa C but I totally disagree! I am sorry that your neighbor was KILLED by a person on drugs. He should NOT have been driving at all while on those rehabilitating drugs. Period. Who cares what 'reason' he was taking these drugs. Turns out it was because he was trying to get sober from his other drug use. You suggest we become a cheerleader for a guy who CHOSE to drive while he could not walk and keep his balance??? Uh no. We should not make this kid the Poster Child for someone who was 'trying to get it all together' yet killed someone because he was clearly 'not together YET'.
@My opinion is : You simply don't have %$#^ clue what you are talking about. I have worked with seriously drug addicted teenagers for 15 years. In the great American system, not one of them had healthcare, let alone mental health care. At the last count 29% of the kids I worked with are dead. 40% we managed to turn round and help, The other 30% I have no idea what happened to them.They just vanished. You want to know the worse statistic of the lot. 23% reported that they gone to a doctor to ask for help. With only a few exceptions virtually every one of them was turned away because they couldn't pay. .... What a %^$#-up greedy country!!! I know exactly where the real moral responsibility for these kinds of events lies. It is with the American people who just can't seem to get their conscience around to understanding that perhaps a phenomenally wealthy country like the US might just have a moral responsibility in a civilized world to provide adequate healthcare for seriously mentally ill people like kids on drugs. If you don't, this type of tragedy is exactly what is going to keep happening.
I don't know the details of this guy Sam, but if he is anything like the kids I worked with he is desperately trying to get off these poisons, but relapse is a demon just waiting round every corner, and most of them relapse at some point, even if they are ultimately successful. And the kids I work with are lucky enough to get a place with an organization like ours, because the only other place they will get help if they don't have money, is in prison!!
Next point...if he was on Suboxone, he was proabably getting some help, but Suboxone absolutely does not cause serious impairment despite what the label says and would not cause him to stagger. Get your damn facts straight. This kid probably had relapsed, and he probably did not have healthcare coverage or anyone to turn to to help him. We don't know the facts at this point but that is by far the most likely.
I think it is absolutely tragic what happened to this lovely lady, and I feel terribly for her family, and i'm not trying to justify what happened to her, but I'll be damned if I'll sit and listen to this holier-than-thou crap about "he should have read the label, he should not have CHOSEN to drive, he should get the death penalty" Most of these kids are seriously  sick people desperate for help, and they will not get it because this country chooses to deprive them of it for God knows what reason.
@David P It was a choice to drive, he has done it before and has been arrested, he had no driver's license (and likely no insurance), and sadly, he took the life of a lovely young lady and broke her husband's heart. Plus, he devasted this delightful couple's family and friends. And, yes, I know firsthand. No more excuses, please.
Point well made.
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While this may well have been an accident, Sam had to have known that he wasn't "safe" to be out driving. He could have made a different choice. He didn't.
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That said - I hope the judge or jury will take into account ALL of the facts as it pertains to the case and dole out the punishment accordingly.
This is the problem with our state laws. Its listed as a DUI when in fact it is not. If this was  a legitimate prescription then its the drug manufacturers fault for having such a terrible drug. @Alisa C.
 @Blindman Are you kidding?  Some drugs, which treat legitimate medical issues, also cause intoxication to varying degrees.  YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO DRIVE AFTER TAKING THESE KINDS OF DRUGS. It even says so right on the bottle. Â
@Blindman @Alisa C. DUI= Driving Under the Influence. DUI. Period.
123456789............Your crazy also. It's the persons responibitity not to drive. They put stickers warning about this all over the RX bottle. Plus they hand out literature stating the side effects and dangers. It's called personal RESPONSIBILITY. Try it.
 @Blindman  @Alisa C. It may be a legitimate prescription, but like all narcotics, they have a warning label against taking them and then getting behind the wheel. While this whole story is extremely tragic for multiple families involved, this person shouldn't of been behind the wheel of any vehicle. Period.
@123456789 @Blindman @Alisa C. Suboxone absolutely does not cause these symptoms. Occasionally a person on Suboxone may experience mild drowsiness for the first two days, but no way does it make you stagger. Either there was something else wrong with this kid or he had relapsed (assuming he got Suboxone for his addiction problems). Drug addiction is a horrible, horrible disease with a high mortality rate, not least because it makes people act in very irrational and sometimes destructive ways. I have worked for 15 years with seriously drug addicted kids and of the 1000 or so kids approximately 300 have died. A lot of these kids are young inner city black kids. Most dogs have better healthcare than they do and in this wonderful country, noone gives a %$#^ what happens to them......until they do something stupid and then we have the usual line-up of morons screaming for the death penalty. Half of these kids could barely read a label!
 @123456789 Lets not forget the over the counter meds that carry the same warnings and can result in a DUI as well.
Thoughts going out to her family and friends. Â
The DA needs to make an example of this driver. This driver new he was on drugs and should not have been driving. We need stronger laws and judges willing to take a hard stand on this type of crime or society will never change. Repeat offenders should be shown no mercy.
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God bless Stacy and her family.
I have never seen such a show of support in all my life. I have said it once and I will say it again- I am SO proud to be a part of YOUR community.
I just want to say Stacey we will miss you, but I know you can see all of these people that love and care about you, and you know that they have all been brought together BY YOU and touched at some point in their life BY YOU. Rest in peace you lovely amaizng woman! Love and positive thoughts to all your loved ones!
Should be a death penalty case. Any time your actions result in the death of another individual it should mean the death penalty.
I'm not against having a couple beers after work but you have to be held responsible for your acts if something goes wrong.
@Blindman I sure hope that you and I nor anyone I love (or ANYONE, for that matter) EVER crosses your path while you are experimenting with your "couple of beers" safe driving skills....
@as2000 I don't see where Blindman says he is having a couple of beers then driving? Seems to me ifn fact he thinks people should be held accountable for their actions which tells me just the opposite- he MIGHT drink them at home when he knows he will not be driving.Â
@MomOf2 What the hell do you think he was talking about. He was busy condemning this kid to death, and then he tells us that he has been driving while impaired by alcohol, but its ok for him, because it was "just a couple of beers". "just a couple of beers" will impair your driving more than Suboxone will. Whats more he is proudly saying that we should be prepared to accept responsibility for our actions. So he appears to be suggesting that drinking and driving is ok, as long as you are willing to stand up and take the fall if you end up killing someone. NO. It is not ok. Responsibility means choosing NOT to drink if you know you are driving.
I'll keep scanning the Internet and if I see that Blindman ever has a car accident that kills someone, I'll make sure I show the judge that he thinks he should get the death penalty. Whats more, for morons like him, I'll be happy to push the button!
@MomOf2 I believe Blindman meant what he said. If you are on your couch drinking at home after work, what "responsibility" was he speaking of taking if something goes wrong? Falling off the couch? Please....really?
Condolences to the Family.
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I, sadly, sympathize greatly. My husband lost his sister on June 16th to a Drunk Driver.
Hit her while she was stopped at a red light, pushing her into oncoming traffic....you know the rest. She left behind a devastated 14 & 6yo and Husband. So unfair. It was 3 pm, he had 4 kids in his car (1, a baby, was in a a car seat, but hadn't been buckled into the car) and a sober passenger. He'll be out before the 6yo Graduates. Disgusting.
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The Laws Must be STRONGER!!!!
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All my Love to her Family. xox
@_Monte_Â My condolences to your husband (& you & the rest of the family) on the loss of his sister.
Tragic. R.I.P Stacy!
This is horrible and tragic!! Why cant we get these losers off the street! I just cant have sympathy for these drunks and drug losers who are impacting the rest of society. Throw away the key on this one. I send prayers and sympathy to this poor girls family :(
Why don't we publicly humiliate drunk drivers like we do with sex offenders? Let's start a registry for them and give them special plates on their cars. Maybe it won't deter them in the future, but it could make others think before driving drunk.
@Magic 8 Ball: He wasn't drunk. He was on a medication trying to recover from drug addiction which is a serious mental disease at the very least. America seems to put a lot more effort into helping people who have erectile dysfunction than helping those with serious mental problems. What a %^&$ up medical system in this country.
And frankly, although I not saying we should tolerate drunks behind the wheel or people sexually assaulting other people, let me just put it very politely, I really think a lot less of people who seem to get a high at the idea of "publicly humiliating" other human beings especially ones who probably have a serious mental illness.
It would be much more effective to remove the stigma from having alcoholism, provide easy access to medical help and make it a condition of getting help that you turn over your car keys.
 @Magic 8 Ball He wasn't drunk but I get what your trying to say.
Oh, dear....her poor husband. RIP, sweet girl.