WWU freshman nearly loses arm after hit-and-run

An 18-year-old Western Washington University freshman who nearly lost her arm in a hit-and-run was still recovering but in good spirits at a Seattle hospital Monday, Jan. 21.

The teen's family is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the identity of the driver whose car struck her during the weekend on a dark Bellingham street.

Mackenzie O'Brien, a graduate of Edmonds-Woodway High School, and close friend Justine Phillipson, 19, of Tumwater, got off a bus at 11 p.m. Friday with about eight others on their way to a house party in the 900 block of Otis Street. They were crossing the road in front of the house when a northbound car with its headlights off struck both of them from behind.