(Images: CHS)
A Seattle Fire “heavy rescue” call quickly became a SPD chase Saturday night after a driver failed to navigate a sharp turn on E Roy and plowed his pick-up truck into an apartment building then fled the scene on foot.
We have not yet confirmed details with SPD but CHS was told at the scene by a witness that SPD believed they had the suspect in custody a short distance from the crash scene.
Several fire units were dispatched to the incident reported at 10:17p but were quickly cleared from the scene. There were no injuries at the apartment building. We don’t have any details on the driver’s condition.
Residents of the apartments at 601 E Roy said they heard a big bang and felt the building shake before coming outside to see a cloud of smoke and a man running full speed up Roy toward Broadway.
Thats a long uphill feeding into a weird angle left, with traffic coming out at 3 other angles from crossing streets, plus pedestrians in the crosswalks. He kept going straight and plowed into the building. I drive that corner a lot. Its a tricky angle and an incline, if you aren’t paying attention or were impaired you could find about 4 different ways to mess it up.
It is a tricky corner – I am actually surprised accidents don’t happen more often here.
Dude fled the scene of a serious traffic accident. He clearly was either drunk or high, and didn’t want to get caught.
Dude failed to negotiate a basic curve on a city street.
No Sympathy.
Make sure he doesn’t ever drive again.
Sorry dudes – there was no fleeing from the scene. I saw the whole thing go down. The impact was so violent that the driver didn’t even get out of the car. Luckily a guy and girl were there to see if he was ok. They called the cops and I waited there until the cops arrived.
I don’t know if he was drunk or not but he was obviously going way too fast. I heard the squeals of tires trying to make a sharp turn, then bam. It was very loud. And today I saw that there were dozens of bricks ripped from the corner of the building. I hope he’s ok.
This is complete Deja Vu. Someone I knew many years ago hit that building just like that drunk in his pickup truck that he used for his landscaping business – it would have been just over 20 years ago.
I lost track of him, I hope he learned not to drink and drive.
Just to be clear, I didn’t say that I saw the cops apprehend the man. I said that I didn’t see anyone flee the scene. I saw a couple call the cops while the man remained behind the wheel. The cops arrived a few minutes later. I guess we’ll see what the report says. But I’d be surprised if anyone could get into a crash like that and immediately run away.
This isn’t a “basic curve”, it’s highly confusing at this spot do you go up or do you go right, the lighting is yellow and dim. If you do not know the area and maybe also are a bit lost I can see this happening.
It doesn’t make an excuse for the accident but don’t be so harsh, you don’t know all the details yet, still says “investigation” of hit and run property damage and DUI, so nothing is clear yet.
Or, it could be that he’s just another one of those piss poor drivers that are overtly abundant in that area and simply had his head up his arse and wasn’t paying attention to the road. this is NOT a tricky corner and its lit well enough to see just fine as i drive this hill daily. only a complete moron could miss this turn.
It’s not that tricky of a corner, especially if you’re going the speed limit. Hundreds of cars go around that corner every day without crashing. The guy had to be either not paying attention, drunk, speeding, or all of the above.
Ok I used to be the On-Site manager for this building for a few years and it happened one time when I was there. I saw people flying around this corner all the time and some came very close to biting it. This is a very tuff corner to navigate and the corner regardless of what anyone says is not well lite and can be very dangerous at night. I hope the person who was involved is OK and everyone should just drop it unless they were an eye witness and can confirm the entire thing with video.
Tony says one the driver didn’t leave the car and SPD says that the guy was arrested on Broadway for hit and run.
Suspicious. Luckily no one’s dead or seriously hurt.
I just posted about the conflicting stories. Didn’t see your new comment until after I posted.
I drive through there frequently. It is tricky, which only means that motorists need to be extra-careful, proceed slowly, and use common sense…all of which is not going to happen if you’re impaired.
Witnessed an accident almost happen on Sunday morning. Car going north didn’t yield to car turning uphill even though car going north had a STOP SIGN. This corner needs to be improved with a light. People aren’t careful enough! I avoid walking down this hill now since cars speed up it. The city needs to put a light here!!