A Chimacum man is facing a charge of vehicular homicide in the July death of Stan Cummings, the former executive director of the Northwest Maritime Center. 

Gregory C. Lechtenberg, 81, was arrested last week following an investigation by the Washington State Patrol into the collision that caused Cummings death.

Lechtenberg is scheduled to make his preliminary appearance on the felony charge Friday in Jefferson County Superior Court.

Cummings, 76, had been bicycling with his wife on Highway 20 near Old Fort Townsend State Park on the morning of July 5 when a 1996 Dodge Ram pickup towing a tractor on a trailer came up behind them.

According to witnesses who were driving behind the truck on Highway 20, the couple were riding their bikes on the shoulder of the road when the truck and trailer passed by.

The arm of a disc mower on the tractor was extended by about three feet off the right side of the trailer, and witnesses told the Washington State Patrol that the mower arm missed hitting Cummings wife but then struck him in the head.

Lechtenberg kept driving north toward Port Townsend after his trailer load had hit Cummings, witnesses told the State Patrol.

One of the witnesses, who was driving behind Lechtenberg, said he pulled in front of Lechtenberg’s truck and put his hazard lights on and motioned Lechtenberg to pull over, according to a State Patrol investigative report.

Other witnesses also said the couple had been bicycling on the shoulder of the highway, and said the truck driver made no attempt to move over to avoid them. Witnesses also said there was no oncoming traffic headed south on the highway at the time.

According to the report, Lechtenberg said he didn’t know his farm equipment had hit Cummings.

He said he had spent the morning mowing a field in Sequim, and had loaded his tractor into his trailer to take it to Port Townsend after he found he had a flat tire on the tractor.

Cummings was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for treatment after the collision. He died a week later.

The troopers who investigated the collision said Lechtenberg failed to properly secure his load; failed to have sufficient safety equipment on his vehicle as his truck mirrors were “very small for such a large pickup”; failed to monitor his load as he was driving; failed to monitor the highway for other vulnerable travelers; and failed to move over. They recommended he be charged with vehicular homicide and reckless endangerment.