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FRIDAY, JULY 20, 2018 ✮ VOL. 126, NO. 22 ✮ KITSAPDAILYNEWS.COM ✮ 50¢
26th Legislative District
Suspected hit-and-run driver surrenders to KCSO Boss
Caldier
Evans
FitzPatrick
McClendon
Padilla
Randall
By BOB SMITH
Kitsap News Group
PORT ORCHARD — Ali Rochelle Giannini, a “person of interest” in the hit-and-run collision that killed pedestrian Michael Keaton in South Kitsap July 14, surrendered to Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office investigators on July 16. Giannini, 29, was accompanied by an acquaintance when she met with investigators at a prearranged location. After turning herself in, the suspect — who had been labeled a person of interest by law enforcement — was booked and placed in Kitsap County Jail on $1 million bail.
Deputy Scott Wilson, Sheriff’s Office spokesman, said Giannini will be charged with a felony hit-andrun causing death charge. Giannini On Sunday, July 15, the suspect’s car was found in Pierce County and impounded by investigators, who determined the 2016 Chevrolet Cruze was the vehicle that hit and killed Keaton. Keaton, of South Kitsap, was struck by the car while walking southbound on the northbound
shoulder of Sidney. Deputies and investigators from the Sheriff’s Office traffic investigation unit reported he had been a safe distance from traffic, walked against traffic and was wearing a brightly colored shirt and reflective vest. He was well-known to commuters on the route for his daily walking regimen. When sheriff’s deputies arrived at the accident scene, they found Keaton lying on the side of the road. He was pronounced dead by authorities. Deputies later located surveillance video showing the white car traveling northbound on Sidney at 6:51 a.m. just before the incident.
Family grieves ‘Pop Pop’ is gone, but beloved patriarch’s spirit will live on By BOB SMITH
Kitsap News Group
Scheidler
Stanford
Young
Diverse candidates, differing views highlight primary races By BOB SMITH
Kitsap News Group
PORT ORCHARD — While politics on the national level can’t be topped for its smorgasbord of missteps, intrigue and drama, there’s a tossed side-salad of diversity and bombast at the state and
local level, especially among a crowded group of candidates vying for seats in the 26th Legislative District. The candidates running for office in the district offer voters SEE DISTRICT, PAGE 5
Bob Smith | Kitsap Daily News
Tawnie Ploe says she is still processing the shock of her father’s death July 14 in South Kitsap. Ploe’s daughter, Emma, 11, also mourns the loss of her grandfather, who was the victim of the actions of a hit-and-run driver.
PORT ORCHARD — When a hit-and-run driver inexplicably took down a 61-year-old pedestrian by hitting and killing him as he went about his exercise routine safely off Sidney Road in South Kitsap, they might as well have taken down his loving family and the community of friends who loved him. To hear Michael Keaton’s daughter describe him is to listen to a grieving family member tearfully recount the many ways he was, in
fact, a remarkable man. A unique, warm patriarch struck down in his prime in wanton, needless fashion. When Saturday morning, July 14 arrived, an 8:30 a.m. phone call shattered the world of his family. Tawnie Ploe answered the phone call from her very worried mother. She was concerned that Ploe’s father hadn’t gotten home from his daily morning walk. Keaton was a serious, determined walker who used the daily routine SEE KEATON, PAGE 2