UPDATE: Car crashes into West Seattle Junction 7-11

4:43 PM: Thanks to Tyler for the photo and to the person who texted about this – a car crashed into the Junction 7-11 at Erskine/Edmunds/California. It happened less than an hour ago; it’s only on the Seattle Fire 911 log as an “aid response,” suggesting no major injuries, but we have a crew headed that way to find out more.

(Added: WSB photo)
4:59 PM: Unfortunately we couldn’t get any further information at the scene; police wouldn’t comment and the store owner/manager demanded that we get off his property.

seaview July 18, 2015 (4:56 pm)

Hope all our friends our ok

Riviera July 18, 2015 (5:05 pm)

Just passed by. The door frame looks to be bent.
(Maybe during the parade one of the Pirates’ cannon balls did this?)
I recall someone drove into this store before, like 10+ years ago.

WSB July 18, 2015 (5:12 pm)

Riviera, the Pirates don’t fire cannon balls. It’s an explosive charge without a projectile. Our crew did get a pic of the doors which we’ll add.

sherry July 18, 2015 (5:07 pm)

prayers

chelle July 18, 2015 (5:08 pm)

Too bad no info was given out. Thanks for trying wsb.
Hope everyone is okay.

History July 18, 2015 (5:21 pm)

I think someone crashed into this in the past. Maybe 2004 or 5?

Anthony Evans July 18, 2015 (5:28 pm)

Live right behind 7/11 at Soundview overlooking this 7/11. Couldn’t see what happened but heard it. VERY loud bang and then glass breaking.

Was living here when the other car crashed into 7/11 many years ago too. Knew the cashier girl. She was OK. Hope everyone’s OK today too!

rob July 18, 2015 (5:55 pm)

what a nice sounding store owner. I use to stop there. maybe with that kind of attitude I will stay off his property to

WSB July 18, 2015 (5:59 pm)

I do have to say that we seldom encounter this kind of thing and this afternoon, it’s hot, something like this is stressful to say the least if it’s your store … my co-publisher says there was also some guy trying to pick a fight with police because all he wanted to do was use the Redbox machine and this was getting in his way.

I. Ponder July 18, 2015 (6:19 pm)

Seems like the Zombie Apocalypse has begun.

AJP July 18, 2015 (6:25 pm)

The store owner might have been in shock, too. Anger can be a symptom of shock.

dis July 18, 2015 (6:28 pm)

Sounds like California is a dangerous street. It’s time to put in bike lanes!

WSB July 18, 2015 (6:33 pm)

California was rechannelized once. Didn’t work. Was reversed. Unfortunately – and this block is not part of that area – there are bad drivers who don’t understand that if the inside lane stops at the raised crosswalk, it’s probably because someone is crossing, and they insist on trying to pass on the right. Again, not related to whatever happened here. I hope to dig up something on Monday.

Les July 18, 2015 (7:04 pm)

The 7-11 franchise owner is working long hours trying to make a profit and when you have to pay your employees the new Seattle minimum wage your profit margin is very low and now the added expense from this, I would be upset too.

Mel July 18, 2015 (7:38 pm)

I stopped there shortly after it happened to get a movie from Redbox and had no issue getting to or using the machine. Looked like the elderly lady may have mistakenly pressed the gas instead of the breaks from the handicap parking spot. She was alert, walking and talking to the officer.

AA July 18, 2015 (8:50 pm)

Les – if paying his employees $10 an hour is that difficult I would suggest he actually has bigger problems than just a car through his store.

Jim P July 18, 2015 (10:35 pm)

“She was alert”

Not if she can’t tell a brake pedal from a gas pedal and Drive from Reverse.

You’d have to be doing a decent rate of speed to do that much damage to the doors and frames and windows.

(Of course, given the usual Seattle method of backing out of a parking spot is to shove it in reverse, floor it and wait to see if anyone screams or you feel a loud thump, I suppose I should not be too surprised.)

Driving requires as much care and responsibility as carrying a gun but it’s amazing how easily people will shrug off something like this as “Oh well, he or she was a bit confused, it happens.”

(I do not mean the current situation as not enough is known. Just speaking in general.)

Matt S. July 18, 2015 (11:00 pm)

Store owner: sorry this sucks but please don’t be uncool to WSB—without them I have no idea where I am, what’s happening, or what loud sounds are. Red Box guy: come on. There’s no line for Netflix and nobody has to know about your cold, shriveled heart either.

ChefJoe July 19, 2015 (12:37 am)

dis, don’t forget Erskine way is on the other side of the store. They could remove parking on one side and diet it with some bike lanes. Although, really, they should put a lane divider in so people exiting Uptown Espresso don’t block traffic because they can’t complete the left and make it so they can only exit to the right.

Mike July 19, 2015 (9:40 am)

Picking a fight with SPD over using Redbox at a crash site/property damage investigation. Wow…wow people. That guy must really hate when Redbox systems flake out, which is like…all the time.

Nathan Moore July 19, 2015 (10:57 am)

I work across the street at Courtesy Tire. I didn’t see anything, but heard loud tire squeals (like locking up the brakes) right before the very loud bang/crash. That amount of damage and noise, along with the trajectory, couldn’t have come from a parked car mashing the gas and jumping over a parking curb

Mike Lindblom July 19, 2015 (12:30 pm)

Actually, crashes into storefronts are very common in the U.S., and there is a whole subculture of safety studies and incident data. In my spare time I ought to write an article….

Mike lindblom July 19, 2015 (12:32 pm)

And don’t hassle WSB. They’re good people.

FarKar98116 July 19, 2015 (4:05 pm)

The first time I drove a car with power brakes in the late 70’s I braked too hard stopping in front of a business with glass front. One huge plate glass window crashed all over the hood of the car. The business owner installed those car stopper curb things in front of each parking space the next day lol.

Erik July 19, 2015 (4:58 pm)

A friend who works for Coinstar says they average 1 Redbox hit by a car every day.

STB July 20, 2015 (10:44 am)

Bike lanes, bike lane paint, road diet, reduction of speed limit in the parking lot are musts — these will solve everything…

K Stine July 20, 2015 (8:38 pm)

Be gentle — clearly the guy had a jones for a giant slurpee. It was a hot day after all.

pie July 21, 2015 (11:14 am)

Yes. Bike lanes. They will solve everything. How about more sharrows that need constant repainting? And was just at the 711 this morning (where a bike rider ran through the lot to Uptowns lot illegally).They can’t get the windows fixed for about 2 weeks. I understand the owner (who is a really nice guy) being stressed out and not wanting to answer more questions when his business just had a huge crash happen. Instead of avoiding going there you should go there. Imagine how scary it will be for the employees to be working overnight without any windows. Have a little sympathy. Someone crashes into your house and after dealing with police, corporate office, insurance…? You’re supposed to be all good moody?

Matt S. July 21, 2015 (11:37 am)

@pie: No doubt it sucks to be the store owner/manager, as it’s got to be an awful week thanks to somebody who probably shouldn’t be out driving.
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I also don’t know for sure, but I suspect that the WSB folks are *not* raging jerks. They tend to write on the conservative side and noted that the owner demanded they get off the property. I’d not expect a good mood, just some decency for the people that vastly improve our entire community by keeping us all informed.
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If the manager was a total jerk to the clown that was upset over the Redbox, I’d call that justice. WSB != Redbox clown.
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Also, let me know when a bike rider takes out the front of a store or kills someone in traffic. I’m not saying cyclists can’t be jerks, but there’s no way they’ll be doing the same amount of damage as a careless or inattentive driver.

pie July 21, 2015 (3:01 pm)

@Matt S. Did I say anything about WSB folks being “raging jerks”? Talk about putting words in… WSB did what they should do. WSB does a great job. What I’m annoyed about is at people being so uppity about not shopping at this place because the owner was upset as is his right to not want to deal with more questions after a traumatic event to his livelihood. This is what’s wrong with WS these days. And yeah, no bicyclists have destroyed front-end a of stores, but the guy on his bike I almost hit because of his errant ways. That would have been worse than a store front being hit. Pipe down. PLEASE. When did WS stop being a great place to walk, drive, cycle?

Matt S. July 21, 2015 (4:14 pm)

Fair enough, pie, I was just trying to say that WSB didn’t need to be treated poorly—not that you alleged anything about them. And I agree that boycotting the place over such an incident is excessive and completely without empathy.
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I’m too new to West Seattle to diagnose trending problems, but it seems like a great place for feet and wheels if you think of hills as a healthy challenge. I’d argue, however, that any place suffers from an increasing number of careless and inattentive drivers and riders. The more people there are, the more compounded the effect. I’m not the world’s most amazing driver or cyclist, but I pay attention and generally follow the rules—which feels some days like being in an obscure minority.

pie July 21, 2015 (6:39 pm)

Thanks Matt. I’ve lived in WS for over 15 years. Its changed a lot. I’ve been double flipped off by cyclists when backing out of my driveway at 3 mph… Like today, had a cyclist almost kill themselves by breaking the road rules, and yeah, a stupid driver totalled my car recently. I’m just tired of what WS has become. We’re the new Ballard. Sorry that you never expeienced what WS used to be. It was a great place to walk, drive, cycle, have quiet nights.