Steven Bird was a man who would go out of his way to help seniors or others who, like him, were disabled. He advocated for safer streets and efficient transit and volunteered at walking tours around Tacoma.
On the evening of Dec. 2, Bird, 63, and two friends were walking across a Burien crosswalk when an SUV, its lights off, failed to stop. One of Bird’s friends threw his keys at the vehicle. Soon, two men emerged from the SUV. The passenger then allegedly punched Bird and one of his companions, according to charging documents. The vehicle and occupants then fled the scene.
Bird fell to the ground, his head striking the pavement.
Five days later, on Dec. 7, Bird died. The King County Medical Examiner’s office ruled his death a homicide from blunt-force injury to the head.
Bird, who had nearly been struck in crosswalks numerous times by inattentive drivers, had long predicted where he would die. It’s the how that he didn’t see coming.
“Steven would always say, ‘One of these days, I’m going to die in an intersection,’” said his former sister-in-law, Andrea Williams.
Arrest
On Thursday afternoon, detectives from the King County Sheriff’s Office arrested Naim S. Hicks, 18, in Seattle in connection with Bird’s death.
On Friday afternoon, Hicks, a White Center resident, made his first appearance in King County Superior County where probable cause was found to charge him with second-degree murder. Bail was set at $1 million, court records show.
Detectives used witness descriptions and video surveillance to identify the vehicle — a Ford Explorer — and Hicks, according to charging papers. The vehicle was located on Dec. 12 in White Center.
Heading to dinner
The intersection of 5th Avenue SW at SW 151st Street is in the heart of Burien and adjacent to its Town Square Park. It’s near the city’s library and City Hall. It would seem to be pedestrian friendly with marked crosswalks and stop signs.
On Dec. 2, just before 7 p.m., Bird and his two friends, who had known each other since their teens, left Logan Brewing Co. and were headed to dinner, according to the Sheriff’s Office and family members. That’s when the vehicle ignored a stop sign and went through the crosswalk, according to Andrea Williams’ husband, Doug, who spoke with Bird’s friends, as well as charging documents.
“Steve is legally blind day and night, and at nighttime he sees even worse than he does during the day, obviously,” Doug Williams said in a phone interview with The News Tribune on Wednesday. “So he didn’t see the punch coming. He didn’t prepare for it. It blindsided him, and he went down.”
“One witness observed the assault from six stories up and reported hearing the impact of Steven striking the pavement even from this distance and commented how he appeared vulnerable,” charging papers state.
Bird lost consciousness after hitting his head.
“He came to, he was bleeding from the back of his head,” Doug Williams said. “He didn’t remember what had happened to him. He said he was fine. He would just wanted to go home.”
Instead, he was transported to Valley Medical Center where a scan showed a skull fracture and small bleed in his lower brain, according to charging documents. It was decided he should be transferred to Harborview Medical Center. But the bleed soon worsened.
“By the time he was in the ambulance on the way to Harborview, he was unconscious and never regained consciousness,” Doug Williams said.
Steven Bird, far left, poses with other disabled citizens after a proclamation on a Week Without Driving was issued by the Tacoma City Council on Sept. 26, 2023.
Advocate
Laura Svancarek, the interim executive director for Tacoma-based transportation advocacy group Downtown on the Go, first met Bird at the group’s 2019 volunteer-appreciation party. They soon became friends.
“He was really concerned about all people with disabilities, not just visually impaired,” Svancarek said earlier this week.
In a testimonial, Bird wrote about how he first got involved with Downtown on the Go in April 2016 after attending one of the group’s Walk Tacoma history tours.
“One hour later, at the end of the walk, I asked to volunteer with this organization,” he wrote. “This endeavor is near to my heart, as I am visually challenged.”
Downtown on the Go volunteer Steven Bird (with flag, far right) assists with a walking tour in Old Town Tacoma, date unknown. He died in December 2024 after he was assaulted in a Burien crosswalk.
Along with assisting on those tours, Bird advocated for non-drivers at government forums and meetings. Bird said effective transit is important in getting people to “… all of the necessary activities of life, which I am afraid too many people with cars and good incomes take for granted and never realize their importance to others.”
Anna Zivarts, a program director for Disability Rights Washington, knew Bird. She’s also partially blind and considered him a mentor.
Zivarts last saw Bird in September 2023 when the City of Tacoma issued a proclamation in support of Week Without Driving, a campaign meant to “… challenge our leaders to better understand the barriers nondrivers experience in accessing our communities.”
“He came and was all dressed up,” Zivarts said. “And it was exciting to have that sort of official recognition of his work.”
Family
Doug Williams met Bird when they were both students at Auburn’s Green River College in 1982. Bird introduced Doug to Andrea. Bird was married to Andrea’s sister at the time.
At age 19, Bird was diagnosed with Stargardt macular degeneration, according to Andrea Williams. There’s no cure for the rare condition that causes the loss of central vision.
Although he was living on disability when he died, Bird worked at a number of careers during his life, including teaching English in Taiwan.
At one point, he worked for Ebbets Field Flannels which makes, among other products, reproductions of vintage baseball jerseys. Bird, an “extreme history buff,” according to his family, thrived on researching old barnstorming and Negro League teams.
“Being able to bring a lot of those forgotten baseball teams and forgotten stars back to life was something that he really enjoyed doing,” Doug Williams said.
“(Film director) Spike Lee would only talk to him … because that’s who he wanted to work with,” Andrea Williams said. “Ichiro (Suzuki) came in and bought some things from Steve, and then had his manager come in and bring him a signed bat, because of his interactions with Steve.”
Bird lived in Tacoma off and on for the majority of his adult life, Andrea Williams said. He’d recently been priced out of his home in Tacoma and was staying with the Williamses in Burien while he was looking for new, subsidized housing in Tacoma.
Legacy
Before any arrests were made in Bird’s death, Andrea Williams said she had been trying to be empathetic with the person responsible for his death.
“I tried very hard to not be judgmental,” she said. “On the other hand, I’m incredibly angry.”
The family is dealing with the tragic irony that a man who didn’t have a temper died from violence.
“There was no anger in this man at all,” Andrea Williams said. “There was no aggression in him at all.”
A memorial service for Bird will be held sometime in February, Svancarek said. She wants people to know how much Bird cared.
“He would interact with people at bus stops, seniors who didn’t have smartphones, or immigrants who weren’t sure how to navigate the system,” she said. “That’s the most important thing about Steven … he was profoundly kind and just wanted to help.”
In his last selfless act, Bird was kept on life support long enough to become, according to his last wishes, an organ donor.