Few people have inflicted as much pain on others as captured fugitive Frederick David Russell.

The former Washington State University student is accused of causing an accident on the Moscow-Pullman highway while driving drunk that killed three other WSU students and seriously injured four others. The survivors will never forget the carnage that occurred shortly before graduation on June 4, 2001. Nor will the families and friends of those involved. But the pain and suffering doesn’t stop there.

Bernadette F. Olson, a former WSU graduate student, lost a promising career as a criminal justice professor by lying to a grand jury about her role in helping Russell flee in the fall of 2001 rather than face trial on three counts of vehicular manslaughter and other charges. Russell’s father, Greg, left his job as a criminal justice professor at the university because, he said in an interview, rumors about the case may have affected his career at Washington State. Soon after Russell fled, his father said: “He is making his situation much worse, not better, and he needs to surrender to authorities now.”

Indeed, young Russell, now 27, made the situation far worse for himself by fleeing to Canada first, then reportedly to England, before finally settling in Ireland. On Oct. 23, four years to the day that he fled the United States, he was captured in Dublin.

This week, an Irish judge surprised and pleased U.S. authorities by granting a request to extradite him to this country. If he had stayed here and faced justice, he’d probably be closer to freedom. After all, a Naples, Idaho, man who killed a couple and critically injured a baby while driving drunk in Boundary County last July 29 was sentenced to a work release center this week where he will be eligible for parole in 18 months.

Russell deserves no sympathy. By fleeing, he cut all ties with his anguished family and friends. By hiding out in Ireland, he kept in agonizing limbo the survivors and families of the dead crash victims: WSU seniors Brandon Clements, 22, of Wapato; Stacy G. Morrow, 21, of Milton; and Ryan Sorensen, 21, of Westport. Also, he cost agencies hunting for him untold money and almost a life. Whitman County sheriff’s Detective Pat Kelley was seriously injured and another driver killed in a 2002 crash in Oregon as Kelley was returning from a hunt for clues in California.

Russell’s life could have been easier, if he had thought of others more than himself. In a letter to his parents after he fled, Russell said he was sorry to have caused them pain, but “he was taking off to a place where he could not be hurt.” No sympathy for the dead and injured there. Only for his own well-being. As a reward for his poor decision, he had to look over his shoulder every day for four years, wondering when he’d be captured.

Now, he has another decision to make: whether he will fight extradition. He might have a chance at winning such a battle. Irish officials had rejected the last 18 attempts at extradition before handling his case.

If Russell holds true to his ways, he will fight rather than face a Whitman County jury – and the survivors and other individuals he injured deeply by denying them a chance to hear the truth about what happened almost five years ago.

Whether he fights or submits to extradition, survivors can take comfort that local, state, and national authorities didn’t waver in their pursuit of justice in this case. At worst, Russell has been found and exposed in his hiding place.