A lengthy investigation into a 5:33p crash that sent a motorcyclist to the hospital shut down Bellevue Ave between E Olive Way and E Pine for more than three hours Thursday night. CHS reported the incident earlier in the night via Twitter @jseattle.
Seattle Fire said the motorcyclist was seriously injured and taken to Harborview with a significant foot injury. The 37-year-old male was conscious and the injury was not life-threatening. He was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash.
Seattle Fire told us the motorcyclist said a car had turned in front of him causing the crash.
Uncomfirmed at this point but people at the scene tell CHS that the driver of the car was being evaluated for driving under the influence.
A black car with a dented front and Idaho plates was towed from the scene just before 9p.
During the Bellevue Ave closure, Metro buses were routed off of the street. Those buses were back to normal routes as of 9p.
I was riding my bike home and saw that car parked on the north side of Bellevue Ave right before Denny Way at about 5:20PM with a couple guys in it. I remember it specifically since it was parked right in front of a NO PARKING sign and was preventing a bunch of cars from making a right on red. Ticked me off. I was going to say something to them but they looked like pretty shifty guys.
and saw that. so sad and Im glad there good people to help… I just got a scooter today… sheesh!
The reason to let the police know if you’re a witness to an accident or crime is after the criminal case there is sometimes a civil case to force the perpetrator to compensate the victim. Many witnesses refuse to participate in the legal system. It’s very important that if the victim deserves restitution he/she receives it. And no, I’m not a lawyer but I’ve seen a lot of people who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and paid a big price for that that they couldn’t bear.
lets make people who do this work the rest of their lives off…. seriously fuck them i don’t give a fuck
I agree with Kyle. Always give a statement, and don’t just think that others will do so. If the others aren’t able or willing to testify, sometimes these creeps go free.
I was the passenger in the Infiniti that hit the motorcyclist and the parked car. First of all, there were not two shifty looking guys in the car, it was a female passenger and male driver. We are not shifty, but well educated law abiding citizens with established careers. The driver was not drunk or intoxicated, but is a type 1 diabetic and Bipolar male who had not been taking his meds and also had not been monitoring his blood sugar level. Those two combined came to a boiling point yesterday afternoon and he mentally was unstable. I was being held involuntarily in the car as he had a huge sheath knife and was making threats to me at the above mentioned stop. I finally was able to convince him to drive me home at which point I was going to call 911. When he finally agreed, he sped down Bellevue and without looking turned onto Olive Street. This is when he hit the motorcyclist and parked car.
I feel responsible for the injured motorcyclist and event for not recognizing the males extreme unstable condition sooner and getting him the help he needed. I will never get the imagine of the motorcyclist hitting the hood of the car out of my head and hope he is healing. I will do whatever I can to assist in the investigation of this event.
It was appalling to me that people on the street were clapping and yelling obscenities as the male driver was held down on the ground, tazered, and put in the police car. Do people enjoy watching a seriously ill man who is mistakenly being portrayed as intoxicated in this state? The male was not intoxicated as he had just woke up after an almost 15 hour sleep and his medical conditions were out of control. He was not out of my site for 24 hours prior to the accident so I know he had not drank liquor or taken any illicit drugs during that time period. About ten minutes after he woke, he started acting delusional and unstable. I will never forgive myself for not calling 911 prior to leaving home and he forcing me into his car. Also, calling me a “shifty guy” when I am being held beyond my will in car by someone wielding a huge knife and making threats on my life by somrone who is mentally unstable is extremely judgmental. I am a 5’9″ 140 pound female who has long hair that was up in a ponytail. Maybe take a better look before you judge others. Also, mental illness is a very serious condition and combined with the type 1 diabetes not being monitored creates a very serious situation the person who is experiencing this.
Since I was the passenger, I cooperated fully during the lengthy investigation and will continue to do so. The SPD did a great job with the investigation and once they were aware of the males medical problems made sure he got the help he needed while in custody. They told me I was lucky to be unharmed by both the accident and the unstable male. It saddens and sickens me that so many people would shout out the things they did and clap as if they were at a spectator sport. And not one of the at least 40 people watching this whole event thought twice about assuming the male was intoxicated. And I stood there for almost three hours fully cooperating, people gave me looks like I was the biggest scumbag on earth to have been in the car. I am appalled at this behavior.
Thanks for your clarification. It looks like there are unfortunately 3 victims here, sorry. You’ve reminded me that everything isn’t always what it seems.
I hope all of you a-holes that were championing the drivers demise feel like crap right now.
You think you are so smart.
I dont believe a word you say. Drunks and drug users are always using the excuse of “meds” and “mental conditions”. Ive heard it 1000 times and its NEVER completely true. Its just excuses. Your writing sounds like hyper-correction. Look it up. Call me a skeptic, but law-abiding citizens with established careers dont refer to themselves as law-abiding citizens with established careers! Thats something scumbags say to not sound like scumbugs.
Driving in that condition (not on meds, mentally unstable) IS THE FUCKING SAME AS DRIVING DRUNK!!
I would rather stick to the facts versus what some anonymous internet posting says. The police did a great job! There were many outstanding citizens that day.
Who’s fault is it mr nutjob went off his meds? The guy under the car? Yours? Forgive us if we don’t feel sorry for you or your nutty boyfriend.
Since you two are so upstanding his great insurance will no doubt take care of the poor dudes medical bills and pain/recovery, right? I know I carry a 500k policy, most of us upstanding citizens know that an accident can do more damage than the state minimums so we carry high insurance to protect not only ourselves, but those we “accidentally” injure since that’s the right thing to do.
Were you really kidnapped at knife point? There was no mention of this in a police report. If so, are you really defending your kidnapper??? I am glad this nut job is off the streets, but sorry it had to involve injury to an innocent person.
P.S. I think that post needs to be forwarded to the police so they can investigate the claims…
I partly agree with pdb. Let this woman’s lesson be a lesson to everyone. Someone doesn’t have to be drunk or on illegal drugs to cause serious damage. If you aren’t sure about someone’s mental state or if their prescribed medication is working correctly, don’t get in a car and call the cops. Luckily, this didn’t end up with a fatality.
Some of you are missing a big point here. What Ezreadr says could be totally true or totally bullshit. But you don’t know, and it would’ve looked the same to anyone standing by witnessing. Don’t assume you know the whole story just because of what you think you saw.
Yes, the police have all the information about the knife and the events and time period (about a week prior) leading up to the event. I didn’t sugar coat anything to help the driver out. I am happy to give you the case number and officer’s name in charge if you don’t believe me. If anything, everything in my statement will help the motorcyclist and the owner of the parked car. I will do everything to make sure that the victim(s) get restitution and more if I can. When I got into the car yesterday, I didn’t realize how off his rocker the driver was or I never would have gotten into the car or let him drive.
I am not making excuses for the driver, he is in jail where he should be. I just thought it was worth mentioning there are a lot missing information that should have been reported. And it was very shocking to hear those people clapping and shouting out cruel things. This is a very serious situation and I would like to think that people would treat it as such instead of making the arrest into an event that resembled a sporting event. The driver did a bad thing and there us no excuse for that. But there were no shifty people in a car just two adults which one happened to be very sick and me who was scared and could have called 911 when he began the behavior and will do so if ever in that situation again. I don’t think that makes us drunks or drug addicts. The victim here is the motorcyclist and the owner of the car. I am a 40 year old female that had the day off to move and that has lived a lot of those years on this hill and it was sad to see the joy on people’s faces watching a person get tazered and arrested. Yeah, he did a bad thing, but that doesn’t mean it is okay to shout out the things that were said. Clapping that I get. And the majority of bystanders were not shouting, but those that did were up front and center and loud. I just would expect people to treat it like the serious incident it is and was.
Hmmm you say the dude was “mentally unstable” and off his meds and carrying a huge sheath knife.
and that’s not shifty to you?
Dear, Ezreadr,
You were not the passanger in the car because I was. The driver was not drunk, he was high on coke. So was I. I’m snorting coke right now and later this afternoon I’m going to bail out my friend (the driver) because I’ll be out of coke by then and my friend has the connection for more. Have a great weekend all.
You are right. He did look shifty and insane. But, I don’t think it is a fair or accurate statement to call me a shifty guy when first of all I am a female and second was stuck in the crazy guy’s car with him threatening me and waiving a huge knife around. I didn’t even know he had a knife when I got into the car. When he was parked on Bellevue in the do not park zone, I didn’t know what to do and was scared. I may be 40, but I admit I was naive and stupid and could have done more. I haven’t ever been in s situation like that and froze. I don’t know the driver that well as he was just introduced to me by my old roommate a month ago and he isn’t my boyfriend so I didn’t have any idea how really whacked out he was not knowing much history about him. If a 40 year old female that is with a crazy male that looks shifty make her shifty too? I am sure it looked that way, but if you saw or knew me, you would know that I am hardly shifty. I always tend to see the good in people first and am sometimes wrong about people. I really hope this incident helps me make better decisions going forward about who to befriend, but I do not want to stop believing that people are inherently good or judge someone on a quick observation. Maybe I should be more judgemental. That kind of seems lame though.
ezreadr,
Assuming everything you say is true, I’m glad for you that you weren’t injured and that things didn’t turn out worse for you than they might have. Don’t pay any attention to the couple of shit-spouting know-it-alls on here, remember the internet (and blogs) isn’t real life nor representative of people in general. Try not to let it bother you.
I know entirely what you mean about freezing or thinking “I should’ve handled that better”. I was with a friend in front of Jillians when a cracked-out meth-head ran across 4 lanes of traffic to start f**king with us, no reason at all. We are hardly small guys and managed to inflict a helluva lot more damage on his whacked-out ass than he did on us. But still, after the fact, there were lots of things I realized we could’ve done better than wailing on him back right in the middle of Westlake. Like, say, just stepping into Jillians? I even had mace in my car but didn’t think about it. It’s easy to armchair quarterback after the fact. Don’t beat yourself up.
I hope the victim recovers OK, and I hope your friend gets the help he needs, and makes restitution.
This slime ball was holding you at knifepoint and you’re defending him??? You need to pick your friends a little more wisely. If what you say is true, this guy is a ticking time bomb.
Why are you SO FOCUSED on a single comment by someone saying that there were “two shifty-looking guys sitting in the car”? What difference does that make if he/she mistook you for a guy? What difference does it make if bystanders thought the driver was drunk or on drugs? What matters is that a driver was completely out of control and plowed into a motorcycle with enough force to smash it and his car into the back half of a parked car. When police arrived, the driver acted crazy and tried to flee, and had to be tased in order to subdue him.
All you can harp on is that someone thought you were a guy, that the two of you looked shady, and that bystanders thought the driver was drunk. What the f**ckin’ difference does any of that make???
Ezreadr, if the guy isn’t your boyfriend (or a close friend), why were you with him continuously for 24 hours prior to the incident?
Medical conditions, including mental illness, are often used as an excuse for egregious/illegal behavior. The car’s driver is primarily responsible for what happened, because he CHOSE to not take his meds and not monitor his blood sugars.
Also, these days it seems like every-other-person is “bipolar.” Real or self-diagnosed?
Did you see anywhere she said the driver wasn’t responsible? I didn’t.
Ezreadr,
I just don’t get it. So, you *barely* know this guy, yet spent 24 hours together. Im assuming that includes sleeping together. Also what were you doing in the car to begin with, im assuming next he pulled you in at knifepoint? I honestly don’t feel sorry for you; you are 40, have basically no explanation, so obviously hiding certain parts of fact, and making it sound like you are somehow a victim.
Got it. Grow up, look for forward to *not* seeing you around the hill, perhaps go find a better home? And a 40 year old, with roomates? I see you have done well in life.
For chrissakes M, lay off, will you? Obviously the girl made a bad decision that she clearly regrets–Do you think she needs your Monday morning quarterbacking to figure that out now? Have you never done something you regretted?
As the mother of the motorcyclist I want to thank all of you who offered support and assistance to my son. And a special thank you to the kind lady who called me to tell me he had been in an accident and was being transported to the hospital. The Seattle Police Department were great in their assistance to us as well. Seattle showed what a great community it is of people willing to become involved when needed.
I have known the motorcyclist since I was little, had him in my life since as long as I can remember. Thank god he is fine and will recover, because there are a lot of people that would have been devastated losing him.
To ezreadr…you’re an idiot for not having called 911 when you should have, BEFORE anyone was hurt. You’re lucky that he wasn’t killed when your “kidnapper” hit him, because you would have that on your conscience for the rest of your life. As a 40 year old law-abiding citizen with an established career, you should have known better. However, you instead chose to risk the lives of other people by letting this man get behind the wheel and drive you home. I am sorry that you were classified as “shifty” by the people standing by watching, but really, get the hell over it. If you know that you are a good person and were just in a bad situation, why care what other people said when they saw you get out of the car that, let me remind you, JUST HIT A PERSON! Be thankful that the motorcyclist, my friend, is alive and can live to tell about the day he got hit while riding his bike, rather than dwell on the fact that you got called a name.
I just wanted to say thank you too all of the good people that came to my aid the other day. The day had been going great I was on my way to show some property when I unfortunately came across the driver who, I thought saw me???? It seems that us Seattleites can take some solace in our kind hearts, if I had to lay in the road alone I am sure my experience would have been much worse. So thank you!!!
I am also happy to report that I am doing pretty good not one broken bone just lots of sore muscles.
Thank you Again
Kris Ginthner
This is full of lies and complete bullshit. The only person to tell the truth is the motorcyclist, the motorcyclist friend, and the driver. The rest of you shit talking, lying pussies can seriously give yourselves rim jobs. The Facts are: 1. NOBODY forced the driver to stay in the car, he was going into hypoglycemia (after already driving and trying to get through the intersection to pull over and check it). 2. He stayed in the car where police beat him and left scars, and he was tased 4 times, including 1 in the back of the head. He was almost killed and didn’t recover for 4 days at the same hospital where the mortorcyclist was. So all you lying bloggers can fuck yourselves. I am so happy that the motorcyclist is a good person and doesn’t lie like the rest of you. Seattle is a great place, the best on earth, but the witnesses to this accident must have had the whole dishonest part of the population all in 1 city block at 1 time. Oh yeah and to top it off, Ms. “didn’t do shit, made a mistake” is lying out of her ass. Just tell the truth if you want to through the guy under the bus that you said you were in love with, tell everyone that you were high on Methamphetamines and are the only tie to the drug world that was in the car. That is the truth and everyone knows it. And no one pulled a knife on you, LIAR! that camping/hunting knife was in a wood box in the center console. That is the facts and if you can’t get over your lies, your in the wrong and should kill yourself. Proverbs 13:3 is what you all should read in the bible. Oh yeah and to Mr. “Everyone should call the cops,” just to make sure everyone doesn’t do some dumb stuff, alot of people lose their lives in big cities because they do that crap to the wrong people. Lucky for us, the driver and the motorcyclist are both good honest people, it seems. With that I close in 100% honesty.