A person lay dead in the far right northbound lane of I-5 between the Pike and Pine overpasses Friday night as investigators documented the scene and traffic trickled by. As of midnight, there was no official word on what specifically had occurred but Washington State Patrol said a person had been hit by a car on the freeway.
The initial emergency dispatch for the incident came in at 11:17p.
Last month, CHS reported on an effort to clean up homeless camps under the overpasses and some of the accidents that had occurred near the camps including falls from the high walls above the freeway.
The state should lid I-5 in that area. Create a park on top. We need a proper park right about in that location anyway.
And I’m sorry for the person killed and condolences to their family and friends.
It’s got to be the epitome of stupidity to try and cross the I5 freeway, regardless of the time of day/night. Those who do this should be protected from themselves.
I thought the homeless camps, at least the one under Pine St, were being cleaned out and fenced by WSDOT recently. What happened to that?
I was in the car behind the truck he ran into, called 911 immediately. The operator said this happens more than you might think, there needs to be a fence there. The car beside the truck was a cop, so it took about one minute from when he got hit to when the cop checked his pulse, he wasn’t moving and seemed to have died instantly. My immediate reaction was to open my door to go help him, my brother (who was driving) grabbed me by the shirt to remind me that we were still in the middle of I-5 and northbound traffic had not yet stopped swerving to miss the accident. I’m still amazed there wasn’t a 20 car pileup.
Your brother is a smart man. There is absolutely no reason to ever stop on an interstate, unless you are trying to get killed. If you have a flat tire, drive off and change it in the safety of a parking lot, do not stop and change it on the shoulder. There is nothing on that interstate worth giving your life for.
If someone needs help, call 911 – the state patrol is trained and paid to do just that.
I’ve seen people trying to cross that road too, absolutely insane. With all the merging and exiting, cars have a hard enough time navigating the stretch without some idiot trying to save a few minutes. I’ve called 911 on more than one occasion when seeing people getting ready to play frogger there.
“Startup said it’s not known why the man was crossing the roadway”
…Ummm, I’m guessing to get to the other side?