Update: Pickup truck crashes into Westwood Village post office, 1 person hurt

| West Seattle news | WS breaking news

1:57 PM: Big “heavy rescue” callout right now in the 2700 block of SW Trenton, and a texter (thank you!) tells us it’s a crash at the Westwood Village post office. (added) We’ve just arrived at the scene – looks like a pickup truck has hit the building to the left of the entrance. Avoid the Trenton entrance to WV – lots of emergency vehicles. More to come.

2:12 PM: One person is being checked out by medics. We’re trying to find out more about possible injuries. Just added a photo (above) from Natascha, showing the inside of the post office.

2:23 PM UPDATE: Seattle Fire spokesperson Kyle Moore is here now so we should get updated information shortly. Adding a different angle of the scene, from Val – thanks to everyone who’s been sharing photos (we have two photographers here but all views appreciated!). Again, AVOID the Trenton entrance to the shopping center for now.

2:32 PM UPDATE: Moore says that the driver of the pickup was not hurt. The person who was being checked out by medics has cuts/bruises from being hit by collision debris. The concern now is that the truck hit a brick support column – so the building’s structural integrity has to be addressed. Obviously the post office is closed TBA – if you have USPS business, go to the one in The Junction (on California SW between Genesee and Oregon). Moore estimates about three dozen people were evacuated here after the crash, including employees.

(This photo and next by Christopher Boffoli for WSB)
3:03 PM UPDATE: Added video of Moore’s briefing. He says that while the brick column posed a challenge for SFD to remove, it apparently does NOT leave the building structurally compromised. We’ll be checking with USPS on when they believe they’ll be able to reopen the branch.

3:33 PM UPDATE: Adding two photos by WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli showing the aforementioned brick column.

3:55 PM UPDATE: We asked local USPS spokesperson Ernie Swanson about the branch’s status. He replied: “The retail lobby is closed for the remainder of today. At this time we do not know if it will be open tomorrow. The area where the Letter Carriers work was not damaged so there should be no delay in mail delivery.”

FRIDAY MORNING, 7:39 AM: The post-office-box and mail-drop lobby is open, and from inside that lobby, looking through the doors to the “retail lobby,” it looks all cleaned up and ready to reopen at 8:30 am as usual – we will go check again then to be sure. (Update: Yes, it is.)

Rachel May 9, 2013 (2:08 pm)

Is that the reason for the chopper in the Highland Park area? Every time I hear hovering choppers, I want to run out and tell my little boys to come inside!

WSB May 9, 2013 (2:30 pm)

Rachel – yes. After we’d been here for a few minutes, the expected sound of TV chopper came from the distance …

miws May 9, 2013 (2:08 pm)

Wow, I hope everyone is okay.

I’m hearing a chopper just east of there, and wondered what was up.

Mike

riverview May 9, 2013 (2:13 pm)

Gas instead of brake pedal?

RachaelB May 9, 2013 (2:13 pm)

It’s the pedal on the left!! Hope everyone is okay. :)

onceachef May 9, 2013 (2:22 pm)

Yikes! I’ve had my beefs with the USPS but not like this! Hope everyone is alright…I was standing right where that pile is yesterday!

sophista-tiki May 9, 2013 (2:35 pm)

aww crap! I was just about to walk out the door to go to the PO!

MonosyllabicGirl May 9, 2013 (2:51 pm)

not the humorous greeting cards! nooooooo

(glad nobody was hurt)

Jim P. May 9, 2013 (2:54 pm)

Going to be interesting to hear how this one happened. I would think he had to be going at some speed to crash through brick over steel (I presume( support columns.

Of course, there’s been a skid patch up on the sidewalk in front of the PO for years and I always wondered about *that* story.

Cynaur May 9, 2013 (2:55 pm)

When it absolutely, positively, has to be there on time.

Caller May 9, 2013 (2:58 pm)

I was at the post office & called 911. I didn’t see the man run into the wall, but I heard it while I was in my car addressing envelopes. He walked away from the truck, but he was on crutches. I don’t know if that had anything to do with the accident. I don’t think his air bag deployed though. I thought that was strange.

Td May 9, 2013 (3:03 pm)

Wow! That’s where people stand in line..VERY lucky no one was badly hurt.

miws May 9, 2013 (3:11 pm)

I had a similar reaction to onceachef when I first saw the pic, as I was in line there last Friday.

Mike

coffee May 9, 2013 (4:22 pm)

Is the lobby portion open to access post office boxes? Or is that a tomorrow thing too?

smokeycretin9 May 9, 2013 (4:47 pm)

I would laugh so hard if the news choppers flew into W.Seattle in formation playing “Flight of the Valkaries”

Sofia May 9, 2013 (6:13 pm)

I was walking out from mailing a package when it happened. It looked like the guy was about to back out but went forward instead. So glad that the line was so short; if the line had been as long as it often is, someone would have been badly hurt.

West Seattle Hipster May 9, 2013 (7:24 pm)

smokeycretin9, that was funny, thanks for the laugh.

sophista-tiki May 9, 2013 (7:50 pm)

I would laugh so hard if the news choppers flew into W.Seattle in formation playing “Flight of the Valkaries”

Comment by smokeycretin9 — 4:47 pm May 9, 2013
HAHAHAHA

panda May 9, 2013 (9:27 pm)

Isn’t it a little dramatic to have news choppers for something that small? When I saw the choppers I honestly thought there was a shooting or something really intense… that’s a little much if you ask me!

WSB May 9, 2013 (9:41 pm)

Having spent many years making the call … vehicle into building is always a chopper story if you have one. Makes a short visual story to fill another 20 seconds or so. Yesterday, though, the landscaper/hauler truck up on a sidewalk on SW Juneau brought out a chopper and THAT in my opinion was a waste of helicopter fuel … I might not even have written about it here except a helicopter is so visible/audible, it results in a ton of people wanting to know what it was all about. The other factor to keep in mind right this moment: February, May, and November are ratings months for TV. That’s why you see all the promotion for “investigative reports” – alleged government waste and health risks are really big. It’s been five years since I quit and when we look at TV news (mostly in the morning so we can monitor the traffic reports in addition to the scanner, Twitter, etc.), I’m perennially surprised at how little has changed … TR

Wendy May 10, 2013 (6:38 am)

Do we know if the lobby is open today for PO box pickup?

WSB May 10, 2013 (6:48 am)

Going over to check right now.
- WSB May 10, 2013 (7:34 am)
  
  Update: The post-office-box and mail drop lobby is definitely open – walked in to make sure. Looks like the “retail lobby” near the crash spot will be open too – we’ll check for sure at 8:30 am, but through its door, everything looks cleaned up and back to normal (except for the board covering the window). – TR

sophista-tiki May 10, 2013 (3:14 pm)

I just drove by to check it out and lots of people coming and going from the building.
I’ll try to mail my packages tomorow.

WSB May 10, 2013 (3:46 pm)

I did update this story first thing in the morning … they were all set to go from practically dawn – I walked into the PO-box lobby at 7:20 am, all was well, and clearly the regular lobby had been cleaned up … then co-publisher Patrick checked it out when they opened an hour later.

Sorry, comment time is over.