Close call for West Seattle driver in hit-run crash tonight

Luckily, nobody is hurt. But it was a close call for the driver of that car — she got sideswiped earlier this evening at California/Charlestown (map). WSB’er Diane called to let us know as others summoned police. The driver says she was heading north on California when a silver 4-door BMW, maybe a year or two old, sideswiped her while turning left onto eastbound Charlestown, from southbound California, before she was out of the intersection. Witnesses say the driver stopped briefly a half-block or so away, looked at his car – which would have front-end damage – then got back in and kept driving. The Seattle Municipal Code is very clear (as you can see here) about a driver’s duty to stop after a crash. 11:11 PM: Check the comments – where Larry says a similar-sounding car hit his in the same time frame.

Larry August 25, 2009 (10:26 pm)

Around 7:45pm tonight, a silver BMW with front-end damage nearly hit my vehicle as I was driving Westbound on SW Dakota Street approaching 41st Ave SW. The silver BMW was heading southbound on 41st Ave SW when it failed to stop (or even slow down) and quickly turned Eastbound onto SW Dakota St nearly hitting my vehicle.

It was last seen speeding Eastbound on SW Dakota Street. It happened very quickly, but the driver appeared to be a white male wearing a baseball cap. The bumper appeared to be hanging off the front of the vehicle. Additionally, the vehicle had tinted windows. The article doesn’t state the time of the incident, so I’m posting this information as it appears to be the same vehicle in case there are other witnesses to help identify the driver.

Map of this near incident:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=41st+Ave+SW+and+SW+Dakota+Street,+Seattle&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=37.819897,81.386719&ie=UTF8&z=16&iwloc=A

PS. As always, major kudos to WSB for awesome West Seattle coverage.

WSB August 25, 2009 (10:58 pm)

Larry – Diane called us with the tip at 7:52 pm, according to the record on our cell phone, and the California/Charlestown event had just happened a short time earlier, so very close time frame. Hope you also have reported your incident to police? – TR

Frank August 26, 2009 (12:35 am)

Sounds like the guy was drinking/under-the-influence. I wonder if anyone at Prost or the Admiral Pub remembers a similar person drinking at their establishment at 7:30-ish… Both are north of this intersection on California. I think I’ve been watching too many episodes of CSI. Anyways I hope he gets caught!

Christopher Boffoli August 26, 2009 (6:58 am)

It makes me so angry when people do this! This is close to home for me too. Out of curiosity after I saw this last night I went out and drove parallels to see if this car might be anywhere in the neighborhood. I covered the grid between California and Fauntleroy and between Charlestown and Dakota. There were about 6-8 late model BMW’s in that district and none had any front-end damage. I didn’t drive the alleys and the car, unless it was just passing through, could have been in a garage. But I thought a cursory scan of the hood wouldn’t hurt. This guy needs to be stopped before he kills someone.

big gulps,eh? well, see ya later. August 26, 2009 (8:04 am)

That situation stinks. The assumption is that the driver of the BMW had some reason to avoid interaction with enforecment. I.E. Drinking, no lic, no insurance, ect.
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On a somewhat related note, a car ended up in my yard last night after it was hit going through an unprotected interesection in the Admiral District. The car was hit by another speeding car.
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Please remember to slow down and look when approaching these unprotected intersections. My 3 year old flowering pear tree was cut down in it’s prime, but it could have been much worst.