UPDATE: 35th SW reopens, 3+ hours after driver hit pedestrian between Avalon and Fauntleroy

5:05 PM: Thanks for the tips. Avoid 35th and Avalon – big emergency response; we’re en route to find out what happened.

5:18 PM: We’re there. 35th is closed between Avalon and Fauntleroy and police are putting up scene tape. No one’s commenting yet on what happened.

5:21 PM: Lt. Steve Strand tells us that someone suffered major injuries, so the Traffic Collision Investigation Squad is on the way and that means this part of 35th is going to be closed for hours.

5:29 PM: SPD confirms a driver hit a pedestrian, who has been rushed to Harborview.

5:36 PM: SPD says the victim is a man and SFD says he’s “approximately 35 years old.” The driver stayed at the scene and has been talking with police.

6:04 PM: No further information. This SDOT traffic camera shows the scene from a distance if you want to check on the closure, which we of course will be doing too.

7:49 PM: Just went back to the scene to check; TCI is still working and told us it might be a couple more hours before they’re done and the street reopens. No word yet on the man’s condition.

8:46 PM: The street just reopened to traffic.

10:15 PM: The official SPD account:

Detectives from the Traffic Collision Investigation Squad (TCIS) are conducting the investigation following a serious injury vehicle/pedestrian collision in West Seattle Thursday evening.

Shortly before 5:00 pm, a 35-year-old man was attempting to cross 35th Avenue SW mid-block in the 4400 block when he was struck by a Nissan sedan travelling northbound on 35th. Patrol officers from the Southwest Precinct, along with Seattle Fire Department medics responded to the scene. Medics transported the victim to Harborview Medical Center with life-threatening injuries.

TCIS detectives responded to the scene to begin their investigation and process the scene.

The adult driver of the Nissan remained at the scene. Per protocol, a DUI/Drug Recognition Expert officer evaluated the Nissan driver for any signs of impairment. No intoxication or impairment was detected, and the driver was allowed to leave after being interviewed by detectives.

35th Avenue SW was shut down for the investigation between Avalon and Fauntleroy for several hours but has since reopened to traffic. This remains an active and on-going investigation.

28 Replies to "UPDATE: 35th SW reopens, 3+ hours after driver hit pedestrian between Avalon and Fauntleroy"

  • Tanej June 8, 2018 (5:12 pm)

    M A J O R light show at 7-Eleven.  SPD still arriving.

  • Derek June 8, 2018 (5:15 pm)

    Police have 35th taped off now.

  • Daniel Lindsay June 8, 2018 (5:16 pm)

    Police tape now being put up in surrounding area

  • JB June 8, 2018 (5:18 pm)

    35th fully closed between Avalon and the freeway, both directions

  • Justin June 8, 2018 (5:24 pm)

    I witnessed it and helped with CPR.  The victim tried to cross traffic between Taco Time and the alley behind 7-11.  Traffic was busy and moving in the outside lane.  He darted in front of a moving car.  The driver had no chance to see him or stop.  

    • Kate June 8, 2018 (5:44 pm)

      Thank you for helping

    • Eric June 8, 2018 (6:05 pm)

      I also witnessed, although I didn’t help with CPR. Concur. He ran out from Taco Time and right in front of the car that struck him. Driver had absolutely zero chance to even try to stop.Thank you for helping him. I hope he lives for everyone’s sake.

    • ~hockeywitch~ June 8, 2018 (8:30 pm)

      Glad you were able to help with CPR. Not everyone knows it and some who do might be a little frightened to actually have to do I. Hope the pedestrian will be alright.

    • Sue June 9, 2018 (9:59 am)

      Thank you for Helping both the driver and the injured man. 👍🏼❤️🙏🏻

  • MJ June 8, 2018 (5:43 pm)

    JustinThank you for explaining what happened.  Hopefully the ped will be ok. Curious what type of vehicle was involved?MJ

    • Eric June 8, 2018 (6:11 pm)

      It was just a sedan. Driver was horrified and did the right thing, stopping and calling the police. I can’t imagine being behind the wheel.

  • WSB June 8, 2018 (5:52 pm)

    Thank you, Justin; police confirm they are investigating possible circumstances along those lines.

    And let me just get this out of the way right now in case it saves someone the trouble of typing something that won’t be published – NO VICTIM BLAMING. We don’t know (and may never know) the full circumstances, only that a man is in the hospital with life-threatening injuries. Not much further down 35th, 10 years ago, a man was hit and killed while “darting” into the street … trying to catch his dog. – Tracy

    • JTinWS June 8, 2018 (6:08 pm)

      Thank you, Tracy, for your humane reporting and attention to the human lives behind the headlines. We are lucky to have you chronicling the story of everyone in West Seattle.

    • West side ‘92 June 8, 2018 (6:38 pm)

      I remember the fellow killed trying to save his pup. I think of him often when I pass by there. 

  • waikikigirl June 8, 2018 (6:05 pm)

    Thank you WSB!

  • MJ June 8, 2018 (6:16 pm)

    EricThank you, from the level of injury I thought it was a SUV or pick up truck involvedMJ

  • Yma June 8, 2018 (7:48 pm)

    I would like to add my thanks and admiration to Tracy & WSB.  We need not speculate on motives or whatever on social media. A person is seriously injured. A driver did the right thing.

  • Patrick June 8, 2018 (8:55 pm)

    It’s so sad that purported witnesses give an account of what happened on the internet and people believe it as Gospel. I’m practically despondent after reading some of the comments above. I believe someone was hit by a car because this website is outstanding. They have such good reporting standards.  Because the comments here, like most comments on this website, are an example of why fake news works because of such a lack of critical thinking. 

    • WSB June 8, 2018 (9:11 pm)

      As noted above, police also told us that’s the report they were investigating.

  • Meg June 8, 2018 (9:30 pm)

    WSB please keep us updated if you can get a status report on the victim. My roommate was also there doing chest compressions. We are all hoping to hear something about him. 

    • WSB June 8, 2018 (9:40 pm)

      We will, but unfortunately we have no way of checking with the hospital without a name. Often we will eventually get a comment from a relative or friend of the victim but so far nothing (but it’s just been a few hours and of course their first priority would be at the hospital, not reading or commenting online).

  • Yma June 8, 2018 (10:10 pm)

    Id also like to say – dont bash the witnesses. They’ve given the account they’ve seen.

  • KK June 8, 2018 (11:45 pm)

    I was pulling into Taco Time . I didn’t see the accident happen , but saw you doing the chest compressions.   I couldn’t believe my eyes.  I  really hope he lives.  The Taco Time folks said the guy flipped into the air when the car hit him.  Thank you to all that acted so swiftly and stepped in to do CPR.    LIfe is precious. 

  • Justin June 9, 2018 (8:55 am)

    For those who asked about the victim, I followed up with one of the officers on the scene last night — around seven o’clock.   I was told the man was in stable condition.  

    • Eric June 9, 2018 (1:24 pm)

      Thank you again Justin. Between you, the person that checked his pulse and started CPR, and the other clear-headed people that helped keep compressions going; I would guess he has a much better chance at making it through this. 

  • Reallynow June 9, 2018 (3:20 pm)

    Patrick. Fake news? Please provide us with FACTUAL EVIDENCE that these eyewitness accounts were “fake”  

    • Sarah June 9, 2018 (6:38 pm)

      He didn’t say it was fake news, just that a lack of critical thinking leads to people believing everything they read on the internet (in this case eye-witness accounts) as being fact. 

      • Eric June 9, 2018 (10:27 pm)

        He is correct that none of us are really identified and that he has no way to verify the accounts. I’m a fan of a skeptical attitude myself.  There was a lack of sensitivity and tact in the comment that’s typical of anonymity on the internet though..In advocating critical thinking though, our friend forgot to employ it. He  forgets Occom’s Razor and Hanlon’s Razor. Hanlon’s, because malice appears to be the default assumption, and Occam’s because the explanation with the fewest assumptions is that the witnesses that have commented here are genuine. Two or more commenters before Patrick’s comment corroborated each other’s accounts of events. The comments are moderated before publishing and the blog tries to keep things legit. The position of the car in the supplied photo and the police tape back up details of the witnesses here, and the (admittedly subsequent) police comment also corroborated the witness accounts here. It’s also not a really extraordinary claim that a West Seattelite or two had both been there, and also know about WSB. And non-extraordinary claims do not really require extraordinay evidence.  On top of all of that, the accounts were unembelished and no gain was sought by anyone.The explanation Patrick is warning of assumes that there was a conspiracy between commenters, it was unlikely that the commenters were in the area at the time, and that there is some compelling reason to lie.There’s a lot there pointing to witness accounts of events here being genuine, and nothing pointing to the contrary.  Invoking fake news makes the prior statement about the high quality of WSB a backhanded one, and had our fellow commentor applied critical thinking skills, he’d have realized the shoddy foundation he’d built on.I will certainly be the first to admit, however, that eye witness accounts are generally unreliable and the way I remembered it could deviate from the real events… generally speaking.  Also generally speaking, that is less likely the case when multiple others have described exactly the same events just as I myself remembered them.

Sorry, comment time is over.