Suspect arrested in connection with hit-and-run that killed 77-year-old man on Vashon Island

KING COUNTY, Wash. - King County detectives said they have arrested a suspect in connection with a deadly hit-and-run on Vashon Island.

On Aug. 22, 77-year-old Philip Cushman was found dead on Thorsen Rd. SW near SW Bank Road around 7:30 p.m.

His wife said he left for a walk that night, but never came back. 

Cushman's friend of 20 years, Rob Crawford, said when he got the call from Cushman's wife that he didn't return from his walk, his heart sank. 

"For over two hours, I was up and down the road. Then it got dark and with flashlights, [I] was looking on both sides of the road," Crawford recalled. 

Few details were known but detectives said it is believed Cushman was hit by a vehicle.

"He was my best friend. I just lost my best friend," said Crawford. "He had a capacity to love that was so clear. He had a delight in other people that was evident to everyone." 

"Everybody is trying to wrap words around the complexity and the dimensionality of his character, because he was so extraordinarily rich as a person," Crawford's wife, Merna Hecht, said. 

The King County Sheriff's Office said on Tuesday that the suspect was arrested and booked. 

Cushman leaves behind a wife of 50 years and a daughter.

Crawford is speaking out to not only tell the community how amazing Cushman was, but to get answers. 

"Somebody that beautiful fine and giving, can just be mowed down and they just leave? Who does that?" Hecht said. 

The investigation remains ongoing.