By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Prosecutors will be notifying a 27-year-old Vader man they’ve decided not to charge him in his father’s November death, a death that occurred two days after Travis M. Myers shoved his 52-year-old father who fell and hit his head on a concrete sidewalk.
It’s just not clear if the injury killed him.
Michael K. Myers, 52, passed away on Thanksgiving Day at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle where he had been airlifted following his injury outside a Morton motel.
Police at the time said the son had stepped in between his parents during a fight. The mother had just gotten arrested for allegedly being drunk behind the wheel of a car and the father was described as stumbling down drunk.
Lewis County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher said the autopsy report came back and indicated Michael K. Myers died from a brain aneurysm, a burst blood vessel in his head.
“We can’t link it for sure,” Meagher said this morning.
The King County Medical Examiner’s Office concluded the senior Myers died from a brain hemorrhage. It’s unknown if the external events contributed to a rupture of the aneurysm, according to the death certificate.
The death certificate was finalized late last month; Meagher notified the Morton Police Department on Friday he is declining to charge a crime in the case.
The family is from Vader and the two men had gone to the Seasons Motel to pick up the mother who had taken a room there after her arrest by a trooper.
Travis Myers was arrested for second-degree assault the day after the incident, and the prosecutor’s office asked a judge to release him on a $25,000 unsecured bond as they contemplated a possible charge of second-degree manslaughter.
Meagher said part of his decision involved the issue of self defense and defense of others. Police reports indicated the father shoved the mother and then the son shoved the father. And, the father had also fallen down twice earlier that night, Meagher said.
“That, combined with the forensic problem, we can’t justify charging the kid,” Meagher said.
Meagher said this morning he will be contacting the young man with the news.
The underlying cause of death is listed as a probable cerebral artery aneurysm; the manner of death will remain listed as undetermined, according to the KCME Office.
According to the National Institutes of Health, it’s not clear exactly what causes aneurysms; some are present at birth.
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For background, read “Vader man released from jail as prosecutor ponders charges in father’s death” from Tuesday November 27, 2012, here
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter