West Seattle traffic alert: Hit-run crash with bus near Westwood Village

FIRST REPORT, 6:27 PM: We’re on our way to check out a crash reported to involve a vehicle and a bus at 26th and Barton, which is the intersection with the main south entrance to Westwood Village. Police are reported to be looking for two males who fled from the vehicle – a Mitsubishi – and were last seen headed toward Roxhill Park.

6:33 PM UPDATE: Our crew is on the scene. Eastbound Barton is blocked by the crash; westbound is still moving. We can’t tell what route number the bus is from – but it’s not a RapidRide bus; it’s a blue/yellow articulated bus.

7:10 PM UPDATE: Photo added. No word of arrests yet; we’ll be going to check the scene shortly, to see if traffic is moving again.

20 Replies to "West Seattle traffic alert: Hit-run crash with bus near Westwood Village"

  • jedifarfy December 18, 2012 (6:38 pm)

    It’s probably a 120, they’ve been going up to 30th to turn during the road construction. Yikes!

    • WSB December 18, 2012 (6:43 pm)

      Patrick says five buses in all are stuck at the scene right now, three of them RapidRides.

  • HC December 18, 2012 (6:54 pm)

    Saw the Mitsubishi and the air bag was deployed. Tow truck on the scene at about 6:45 pm

    • WSB December 18, 2012 (6:59 pm)

      Thanks. Heard that in scanner traffic. Also, the car checked to an address maybe a mile away at most. Adding a photo or two here shortly and will be going by in a little bit to see if the scene has cleared yet. – TR

  • born, raised, & still in ws December 18, 2012 (7:47 pm)

    My daughter and were driving by as it happened. The force of the crash was so great when he bounced off the bus he was headed towards my car- I was going west on Barton. We are not quite sure where he came from but I think he was going too fast to have just pulled out of the parking lot. He hit with alot of force-enough that the engine revved and smoked for about 30 seconds after before it completely shut down. It sounded like it was going to explode. I only saw one person leave the vehicle, which was the driver. It was quite a scary thing to witness. I hope there are minimal injuries but that they are caught and can answer to the hit and run.

  • Jeff Welch December 18, 2012 (8:47 pm)

    That will be a 21 at the layover there.

  • marty December 18, 2012 (10:03 pm)

    Two males? What kind of description is that? White?,black?, Asian?, Hispanic? green?, yellow?

    • WSB December 18, 2012 (11:20 pm)

      That’s all I got, sorry, as far as descriptions go. And while I would use “men” or “boys” or “girls” or “women” if an age was involved, it wasn’t.

  • christie December 18, 2012 (11:11 pm)

    we were at Barnes and Noble doing some shopping – we wondered what was going on out side. Thanks for letting us know.

  • cj December 18, 2012 (11:22 pm)

    As they ran off and left the car, my only question is was it stolen or actually their car?

    • WSB December 18, 2012 (11:38 pm)

      That, I may not be able to find out till tomorrow. It checked to an address less than a mile away and the last radio transmission I heard was about officers going there to check on the car/suspects.

  • Concerned driver December 19, 2012 (7:27 am)

    Honestly I have been expecting some sort of crash here. I live behind W Village and have to drive Barton multiple times a day. All those buses parked there constantly are a hazard to everyone driving on Barton, both directions. People going East are forced to give some room on the passenger side which bleeds into the turn lane. It’s only a matter of time before there is an accident there. The buses also block the view of the crosswalk so we can’t see if someone is going to cross the street until they are starting to cross. It’s only a matter of time before someone is hit. I don’t know who thought putting that many buses there would be a good idea. I’ve even seen the bus drivers pop out from I between the buses to cross the street. I’m not sure what they are doing at 26th, but that looks like another dumb idea.

  • J December 19, 2012 (8:30 am)

    Tis the season?!? At WWV PO about an hour before this. a Prius backed up into the front of my car. Luckily my bf was in the passenger seat. Even though he honked the horn they still hit us AND RAN – he got the plate number.

  • DBP December 19, 2012 (8:39 am)

    When I read the headline, I thought: That’s terrible! I can’t believe a bus driver would hit someone and then just drive away.

  • no December 19, 2012 (9:35 am)

    I totally agree about the buses being a hazard there. They block the road and make the street much narrower. Kids who drive too fast or bad drivers clearly will continue to hit buses. METRO MOVE THE BUSES !!!!!!!

  • JJ December 19, 2012 (11:22 am)

    The buses force me and my bicycle to go out into the main traffic lane on Barton. Hope I don’t get hit someday…

  • Jim P. December 19, 2012 (12:04 pm)

    “Kids who drive too fast or bad drivers clearly will continue to hit buses”

    Well, that’s just evolution in action. You can see a rather badly crunched up car but the bus appears to have minimal damage.

    Got to be very stupid or have major warrants or no license to run and leave your car behind if the car isn’t stolen.

  • Rick December 19, 2012 (12:35 pm)

    The bus always wins.

  • S December 19, 2012 (1:53 pm)

    Metro and the City are dumb. I agree that the buses should not be there. They block a park and make the area look trashy.

  • AN December 19, 2012 (3:13 pm)

    They did the rapid ride to use less buses….since then there are at least 3 buses on that street, a lot of the times there are 5 and one even around the corner on like 29th(?) where the light is. Also they park on 25th just before the East entrance of Westwood making it impossible to see comeing out of the parking lot. there never was a bus parked there and now there’s usually 2 sometimes 3. These buses are really making Westwood hard to navigate!

Sorry, comment time is over.