UPDATE: Vehicle goes over Alki Avenue seawall

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(Added: Photo courtesy Brian Towers)

2:09 AM: Both Seattle Fire and Police are headed for the 1300 block of Alki Avenue SW, where a vehicle is reported to have gone into the water. They’re trying to figure out if anyone is in the vehicle; two people are reported to have been seen walking away from the scene. Updates to come.

2:11 AM: Per scanner, no one else was in the car, and the two people who got out are unhurt. The SFD response is being canceled. (added) It’s been 10 years since the last car-in-water incident we recall.

3:04 AM: Tow truck has arrived. As the photo shows, the car is more on the rocks than in the water. (Added) Here’s the context – that’s the car off the seawall at right:

(WSB photo)

10:59 AM: Court and jail records indicate a 19-year-old man was arrested for investigation of DUI, hit and run, and property damage. He’s currently in King County Jail, where records show he also spent time for suspected DUI in November.

Rick April 10, 2019 (8:54 am)

I lived at 1338 Alki Ave (almost directly across from “anchor park”)for many years,years ago and there was an amazing # of accidents there. Often coming from Salty’s at closing time. Or so said officers.

vlado April 10, 2019 (11:20 am)

Based on my observations, the Don Armeni boat launch parking lot is the source of most of the “boy racer” problems at Alki. It has become the meet up destination for muscle cars in the region.

Lola April 10, 2019 (9:19 am)

Do we know if the car was stolen? Were they out for a joy ride? It seems like more & more people are doing this and either eluding the police or jumping out after they crash it and running. I do not think a normal person would do this kind of thing as you have to go up over a curb to get to the grass where they then went over the embankment.

WSB April 10, 2019 (10:01 am)

According to Tweets by Beat, it’s being investigated as possible DUI
https://twitter.com/SeattlePDW1/status/1115964475344138242
(standard caveat, TBB time stamps usually lag by a few hours)

I’ll be doing further research in a bit.

Ray Van El April 10, 2019 (9:55 am)

Looks like that car is all washed up.

Benjamin April 10, 2019 (10:14 am)

hehe. good one Ray!

sw April 10, 2019 (10:30 am)

Steve April 10, 2019 (10:50 am)

First Limebikes in the water, now dockless cars. We need more restrictions on these things!

WSB April 10, 2019 (11:03 am)

Re: beach driving … I made that mistake as a tourist thirty years ago. There was a guy making good money pulling stupid tourists out of the sand, somewhere in the Ocean Shores vicinity …But seriously. Added more info above

miws April 10, 2019 (11:19 am)

WSB, I did the same thing in Oct 1986, at Ocean Shores, in my ’67 VW Beetle no less. Some guy with a 4X4 Ford (IIRC) pickup rescued me. I think he charged me $5.00, maybe because I wasn’t stuck *that* bad, rather than the usual $10.00, or whatever he charged. —Mike

just wondering April 10, 2019 (1:31 pm)

We got stuck in the sand at Long Beach in the 80’s. A young man kindly pulled us out (for free). Haven’t driven in the sand since!

ktrapp April 10, 2019 (1:06 pm)

Refreshing my memory on Google Maps, that looks like exactly what would happen when the road makes a slight bend further south, and a car just keeps going straight. So yeah, alcohol being a factor certainly sounds about right! That’s some impressively tough grass there. I don’t see any tread marks leading up to the car.

dsa April 10, 2019 (5:18 pm)

No I know why that curb used to be a foot tall, back when there were four lanes and no boardwalk style bike lane.

Jenny April 10, 2019 (6:04 pm)

2 DUIs and he’s only 19?! Really hope he’s able to get it together.

Zdap April 10, 2019 (7:16 pm)

Serious commitment to alcohol if nothing else.

Jim P. April 10, 2019 (9:38 pm)

California yanks underage drivers’ licenses when convicted if I am not mistaken. Washington state ought to look into this. Junior would benefit a lot, and so will the community, if he takes some time off and uses the bus.I suspect eventually he will kill someone but still get his license back as no one ever seems to be permanently banned no matter how dangerous they are.

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