Update: Police suspect driver who hit 10 parked vehicles was drunk

Seems a crash we tweeted about overnight turned out to be a lot worse than it looked at the time, judging by the wreckage visible early this morning (thanks to Denice and Doug for e-mailing): Ten parked cars hit, according to police, in the 3400 block of California SW [map] – but only one person hurt: The 37-year-old man who is suspected of being drunk when his vehicle hit those cars. Authorities got the call about 11 o’clock last night; according to Det. Mark Jamieson, the man was reported to be driving northbound on California in the southbound lanes. He was cited for reckless driving and negligent driving along with being “processed for DUI”; he was taken to the hospital with minor injuries, mostly from glass fragments, and was still being treated when the report was filed, so we don’t know if he subsequently was booked into jail. 8:28 AM: Added photos. The driver of the black car was there when we stopped by, retrieving personal items from it before it was towed; she says police told her that hers was the last one hit, so hard that the impact pushed it onto the sidewalk. Note that, as seen in the photo below, the damaged vehicles include a motorcycle.

(We have pledged to always let you know if we alter an image, so please note, we blurred out the otherwise-clearly-visible plate on the red car in that photo.)

23 Replies to "Update: Police suspect driver who hit 10 parked vehicles was drunk"

  • RobertSeattle August 17, 2010 (8:31 am)

    “Police suspect driver who hit 10 parked cars was drunk”

    And if he had only hit 9? ;-)

  • WSB August 17, 2010 (8:36 am)

    We changed cars to vehicles … our photographer caught a banged-up motorcycle, and I believe “vehicles” was Det. Jamieson’s term anyway. Photographer also reports that some of the wreckage was in front of an insurance-agency office (longtime WSB sponsor Dave Newman, who in fact is parallel to this comment in the sidebar if the story itself doesn’t get any longer …) – TR

  • Onorati August 17, 2010 (8:56 am)

    The car which did most of the damage was an older pickup truck, not the Jetta. The Jetta sped off after the incident.

    • WSB August 17, 2010 (9:08 am)

      Thanks, Ono, but that’s directly from the police media unit, reading from the report in SPD online files (report details that are NOT visible online to media or public for at least a few more days) … and I would HOPE they’d have the accurate info on who was to blame … will circle back around to ask about the pickup (and in the meantime, have changed the copy to say “vehicle,” the word of the day) – TR

  • toddinwestwood August 17, 2010 (9:18 am)

    any one read this, check out who witnessed it. hahahahah

    http://westseattle.komonews.com/content/drunk-driver-smashes-several-cars-along-california-ave

  • WSB August 17, 2010 (9:25 am)

    Well, no photo, so we don’t know if it was THE Skyelar Hailey or someone using an alias …

  • newnative August 17, 2010 (9:31 am)

    Glad I was too broke to be drinking in the neighborhood last night! I heard the skid but didn’t hear the impact. I’m about 1/2 mile down the road.

  • k2 August 17, 2010 (9:34 am)

    now we need all the pot smokers to rebuild those cars.

  • irukandji August 17, 2010 (11:21 am)

    @todd : Thanks for catching that. It’s great to know Skyelar’s out doing blockwatch for us!

  • Orange Kia August 17, 2010 (1:26 pm)

    BTW the Orange Kia Rio is one of my cars that was hit by the drunk driver last night.I heard the crashing noise outside my apartment last night but, since my fan was on I couldn’t fathom the damage that was done to so many cars and the BMW motorcyle.It was at 7:30AM this morning I found out what had happend after I call 911..it looked like a hurricane hit California Ave SW. Lucky none of the innocent people were hurt. We need more awareness programs on effects of drunk driving and,also dangers of talking & texting while driving.

  • MB August 17, 2010 (1:35 pm)

    I’m guessing I must have missed something K2…I don’t understand the pot smokers comment, where did that come from?

    So glad more people weren’t hurt! Such a bummer for all the vehicle owners :(

  • Mark August 17, 2010 (2:39 pm)

    Is this one of West Seattle’s annual events? Happened last year, too, didn’t it? Pickup truck broke and axel and smashed into a whole bunch of cars.

  • miws August 17, 2010 (3:17 pm)

    Mark, yeah, that happened in the Junction. This incident eerily reminded me of that one!

    .

    Mike

  • An777 August 17, 2010 (3:31 pm)

    Any indication of where this person was coming or going? Not that it matters.

  • ad August 17, 2010 (8:43 pm)

    I’m sorry to all the people who got hit. I went through something similar just about 6 months ago (but not in West Seattle). It’s such a pain to have to go buy a new car and deal with everything that comes with that because of some stupid drunk driver. I recently got my deductible back, and wonder to this day what happened to her. Yes, a her. When I say “drunk driver” everyone always says “What happened to him?” I wonder if she was injured, and what happens when you destroy 10 or so vehicles (mine was probably the least expensive, a newer Civic)…and she was renting from Zipcar.

  • k2 August 17, 2010 (9:14 pm)

    why do you always have to “get” something? why drink and drive when you can smoke and fly?

  • Eric August 17, 2010 (9:32 pm)

    Since some of the victims log onto this blog, I was wondering if this accident follows the same pattern. Habitual drunk driver, no license, no insurance, no job and you get hosed for the deductible. I have been hit before and I think the accident cost me more money than it did the drunk.

  • Gracie August 18, 2010 (12:36 pm)

    My car was one of the cars. It was the second car to get hit and it was also the most damaged car. I had to pay 1000 dollars. The driver was bleeding and also car racing. He had no lisends no insurnce no nothing. But I do feel sort of bad for the driver

  • Joan August 18, 2010 (3:15 pm)

    Wait… why do you feel sorry for the guy??? Just think, you could have been just getting out of that car when he drove by and you’d be dealing with a lot more than a trashed car. Did you see what he looked like?

  • Joseph in West Seattle August 18, 2010 (3:45 pm)

    Is there any more information to be published about this accident? I think we’d all like to know a little more about it.

    • WSB August 18, 2010 (3:55 pm)

      Too soon to get the police report. I’ll be looking for it online tomorrow.

  • Jeff August 18, 2010 (10:58 pm)

    And the broken glass, plastic and other debris are still there on the street, as no car owner or governmental entity will clean it up.

  • Bea August 20, 2010 (4:03 pm)

    I was actually looking for information on a similar situation that happened 8/15/10 11:40PM on Highland Ave. in Everett. Drunk was a she, was traveling at an estimated 80mph and struck @ least 3 vehicles before head-on into a King cab pick up which in turn knocked the SUV parked behind it, into a mustang across the street … stang had broken front axle anong other damage and drunk was driving a smaller 4 door .. she ran, but didn’t get far.

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