The witness to an earlier hit-and-run that involved Bainbridge Island School Board Director John Tawresey said the noise generated by the crash left no doubt Tawresey had hit another car before he drove away from the scene.

Tawresey, who was elected to the school board in 2007, was involved in a prior hit-and-run accident before his arrest last week for DUI and hit-and-run, according to records released Tuesday by the Bainbridge Island Police Department.

The earlier hit-and-run occurred around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 10 in the parking lot at the Pavilion on Madison Avenue. It was reported later that night by a resident on Forest Glade Lane, who said his 2001 Honda had been hit by a truck an hour earlier.

Tawresey allegedly told police “he did not believe he hit anything, although he said he ‘heard something’ as he drove out of the parking lot,” according to an investigation report on the incident. Tawresey was driving a 2005 Ford F350 pickup truck.

A witness said the noise from the accident, however, was quite loud.

“There was definitely a loud noise, the sound of the collision, and the bumper (on the Honda) was pretty mangled,” said Amy Fowler.

“All of us were really shocked that someone would hit a car and leave, it was a very audible impact … (The Ford truck) paused and then they pulled out,” she said.

After seeing Tawresey’s truck strike the Honda, Fowler wrote down Tawresey’s license plate number and left a note on the Honda that said she had seen the accident.

Tawresey’s statements from Jan. 10 echoes his comments from the Feb. 29 incident when he told police he heard a “clunk” as he was backing out of his parking space but didn’t think anything of it. He told police that he thought the “clunk” was a natural sound of his truck, which he said is a noisy vehicle.

Police found “very minor damage” to Tawresey’s truck after the Jan. 10 accident. Paint that matched both vehicles was found on both Tawresey’s Ford and the Honda.

Tawresey did not return a call for comment Tuesday.

Tawresey, 67, was arrested last week for an alleged hit-and-run and driving under the influence of alcohol after bystanders called police after he allegedly struck another vehicle near San Carlos Restaurant on Madison Avenue.