A Door Dash driver’s late Thursday night assignment on Capitol Hill turned into a ride for his life after someone tried to steal the the delivery person’s car and sped across the city with the victim screaming and witnesses calling 911 to report the strange scene as it crossed into downtown Seattle.
According to the SPD brief on the January 20th incident, witness reported the auto theft in progress around 11:30 PM near Boylston and Olive: “1 MIN AGO, VEH SPED BY WITH SOMEONE ON FRONT OF VEH HOLDING ONTO WINDSHEILD SCREAMING STOP STOP, L/S SB.”
“Officers conducted an extensive area check and spoke with witnesses in the area and determined a general direction of which the vehicle traveled with the subject on the hood of the vehicle,” the report reads. “Officers were unable to locate the vehicle.”
According to SPD, the victim later told officers he was delivering food for Door Dash and had just finished work. He pulled over this car to stretch his legs and left the vehicle running when “an unknown subject jumped in the vehicle and began driving away.”
“The subject jumped on the hood of the vehicle which the suspect proceeded to drive for multiple blocks around the Capitol Hill area with the subject on the hood,” the report reads.
According to East Precinct radio updates, witnesses said they saw the grey vehicle continue to race across the Hill, first spotted it again westbound on Pike and then turning onto Belmont where the reports petered out.
About 20 minutes later, the victim arrived at downtown’s West Precinct where he told police he had run about a mile to report the auto theft after being able to “reach inside the driver window and pull on the steering wheel to make the vehicle crash into an unknown location” where he rolled off the windshield and the thief sped away with his car.
It is unclear where the thief may have finally crashed, allowing the victim to leap off the vehicle — a one-mile radius from the West Precinct at 8th and Virginia extends as far east as 13th Ave.
Seattle Fire was called to treat the victim for abrasions suffered in the incident.
The vehicle was not immediately recovered. There were no arrests.
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More of this kind of energy in Capitol hill, please! Sorry to hear the guy’s car is still missing, but A for effort!
We need to do everything in our power to make the lives of criminals miserable and to make their crimes harder to commit. And I mean everything. Use your imagination, as this driver did.
No, I’m sorry but jumping onto the car was extremely foolish, especially in the absence of any passengers he might’ve felt duty-bound to protect. Never, ever risk your life merely for property, with no lives at stake. Let it go, call the cops, file an insurance claim.
Lots of “privilege” dripping from that comment. What if the driver didn’t have insurance? What if theft wasn’t covered? That car is literally the way he pays his rent. And we all know the cops are too understaffed to do anything. In this post-defund world, citizens will be taking the law into their own hands. Expect to see more of this.
While I understand where you’re coming from, thieves should be worried about risking their lives for your property.
Surprised this doesn’t happen more often, tbh. Unattended running vehicles are left parked all over the streets, usually blocking the traffic lanes with impunity. Fun fact, RCW 46.61.600 states “No person driving or in charge of a motor vehicle shall permit it to stand unattended without first stopping the engine”
Then tip your drivers more and give them a driveway to park in.
Hopefully some of this criminal activity will be curbed with the new DA and mayor. Time will tell if we will see changes.
Both are a joke. And focus on the wrong things.
Is that even illegal anymore?
Thank goodness the food was delivered before this happened. 😄
This doesn’t sound right.
A delivery driver at the end of his shift pulled over in the middle of a very busy Capitol Hill neighborhood (probably also double parked, given where he was at), instead of driving to someplace a little more open, with maybe a parking lot or at least some curb space? He’s actually not that far from Eastlake, east/north Capitol Hill, and some other spots where he could.
This sounds like a driver who also doubled as a drug runner/dealer, and either he was set up or something went south. And he couldn’t let the car go because there was contraband and other valuables inside. So he had to make up this story once the cops got involved and lean on his legit gig as a delivery driver to cover.