Three vehicles damaged in early-morning crash

In case you’ve seen debris/wreckage near California/Andover (map) and were wondering … three vehicles were damaged in an early-morning crash, but no one was seriously hurt.

WSB’s Katie Meyer checked out the scene of the 3 am crash and took the photos. Police were still sorting out the circumstances; witnesses said it started with the truck, and that one if not both of the other damaged vehicles was parked when hit.

FreGirl December 21, 2014 (12:36 pm)

Bus stop sign was demolished, car pieces and glass strewn everywhere. Who is supposed to clean all that up? Danger to pedestrians and vehicles.

JanS December 21, 2014 (12:42 pm)

3am, huh…would it be wrong to assume too much “holiday cheer” involved?

newnative December 21, 2014 (1:23 pm)

They took out my busstop.

Debra December 21, 2014 (1:29 pm)

2nd accident in 4 months in that area where park
Cars got hit in the early morning hours, what is happening regarding speeding or an ineffective circle round

sc December 21, 2014 (2:19 pm)

Around 3 am we heard a car “jumping the hill” at 46th and Charlestown. They did it twice then were gone. Not sure if it’s related but this would be in the nearby neighborhood.

JoeBlow December 21, 2014 (2:25 pm)

Fregirl, that’s a good question. Sometimes part of the crews arriving on scene will sweep up glass, etc..

Just in general, the grass between the road and the sidewalk is full of decayed leaves, trash and worse all along Ca Ave. The property owner nearest the location is responsible for maintaining it, much like a homeowner is responsible for the planting strip. It’s not enforced so people have to band together and “volunteer” to clean up other peoples messes. Frustrating and not very civilized or neighborly for a “nice area”.

alki resident December 21, 2014 (2:57 pm)

I saw that truck this morning parked on the south end of West Seattle High School gym. I don’t know why nobody was killed judging the severe damage on he truck. If this was in fact a drunk driver, this pisses me off. Keep thinking about yourself buddy.

Witness December 21, 2014 (3:41 pm)

BOTH cars were parked when hit by the truck. The bus stop was definitely demolished. The third car (the first one that was hit by the truck), a BMW is still there, probably totaled.

Yes to holiday cheer probably involved, however, the initial police officer didn’t do ANY sobriety test and let the driver vanish, leaving his friends to get his truck towed…

PunnyBooBoo December 21, 2014 (11:39 pm)

To Witness – I’m assuming by your username and account of events that you were an eye witness at the scene? If so, what do you mean the officer let the driver “vanish”? Did he just walk off or a ride come for him? Was it a Seattle Police officer? I can’t imagine any SPD just allowing a guy to leave the scene after railing 2 parked cars, at that hour, and not doing some sort of assessment?? Very concerning if that’s the case. He’s got loyal friends, sticking around to clean up his mess? So bizarre :/

VJ December 22, 2014 (11:54 am)

We saw the truck on Hanford St one block East of California about 7:30am Sunday morning so I guess that’s where they towed it but it was blocking an already dicey roadway so not sure why that’s where they chose to leave it there.

Witnes December 22, 2014 (12:19 pm)

To PUNNYBOOBOO –

Yes, I was at the scene since one of my friends cars was involved (a parked one) AND I was the original person that called 911.

The original responding SPD officer, not only had zero interest in hearing from me or gathering my information (while on the 911 call, I was yelling at the driver of the truck “is there anyone else with you?” to which he would scream at me “what are you doing!??”) he didn’t let us talk to the driver of the truck for HIS information (insurance) and told us it’s in the police report.

I do 100% mean that the driver “vanished”. He called two friends to the scene to pick him up (he either left in one of their cars driving or walked off) and those friends called the tow truck and one left with the tow truck driver the other driving a SUV/car.

THERE WAS NEVER any field sobriety test on the driver (he did refuse medics – who were on the scene). I overheard his friends asking the officer if he was free to go or under arrest to which the officer responded “free to go”. He left the scene before the cars were taken away, as did that officer – another one arrived to manage things until the road was cleared.

The second officer was GREAT. After explaining our concern over the driver disappearing and offering that he might be in one of his friends cars (on Andover) he DID go check it out. Also after expressing our HUGE concern of the state of the driver: immediately following the accident, he FOLLOWED into the apartment (of which he knew NOBODY) and when asked why he was there said “you said to follow you” – and when my friend took off his glasses he literally said “that’s not very friendly” (that happened while I was on the phone with 911)

TRUST ME, it’s beyond my comprehension WHY nothing was done – that guy got the break of his LIFE. We’re waiting for the report to be released before proceeding with an official complaint.

Also noteworthy? His friends kept saying they were “good samaritans” to us (we aren’t stupid) and refused to give us their info – shady? Yep. Covering for your friend? Yep.

Magpie December 22, 2014 (2:15 pm)

Bus stop is still down this morning. Good thing no one was on the street to get killed by it. I don’t know how someone would have run it over unless they were impaired.

debra December 22, 2014 (3:24 pm)

Hi Witness
I live on 44th and Andover and back on August 21 (see crimnal site ont WSB) my car was totaled by drunk driver in a stolen car
The police officer who came out was less than helpful and just drove one of the occumpants home
No charges were filed, and the officer was down right nasty telling me to move my car off the sidewalk and would not assist in any way. I was always a supporter of the police but this changed my beliefs..to date no charges filed and we are out of a car..yes we had insurance but could not get the deductible or diminished value and had to buy a new car with out of pocket expense…keep thinking the cops don’t give a rip

West Seattle Hipster December 22, 2014 (5:26 pm)

I am very curious why the suspect(s) were driven home by police. Abuse of power?

WSB December 22, 2014 (5:29 pm)

I will not likely be able to find out additional info about this case short of filing a public-disclosure request – traffic just doesn’t turn up in the mix. Working on urging this to be fixed. That aside, NOT knowing the circumstances, police give “courtesy transport” to people involved in crashes or other situations *all the time*. Listen to the scanner for a while and you’ll hear that phrase frequently.