(SDOT camera images unless otherwise attributed)
12:30 AM: A crash involving at least two vehicles is closing the westbound West Seattle Bridge to traffic near the crest. SFD is sending a “rescue extrication” response. Dispatch says this involves a wrong-way driver – there was a report shortly before the crash of someone going eastbound on the westbound side. At least one person is reported injured. Updates to come.
12:40 AM: Firefighters report they’ve extricated the person who was trapped in one vehicle (which appears to be a pickup truck). They’re reporting a second injured person.
12:52 AM: Responders also have blocked the two inside eastbound lanes of the bridge, as shown on the traffic camera.
12:59 AM: And now they’ve cleared, so the eastbound side is fully open again. Westbound still closed.
1:24 AM: Traffic Collision Investigation detectives have been mentioned, which means the closure won’t end any time soon.
3:06 AM: Investigators are still on scene. No updates so far on the victims’ condition.
3:37 AM: We’ve just learned this crash was deadly; SFD has been dispatched back to the scene to remove a body from one of the wrecked vehicles.
4:12 AM: The victim is now being taken away to the Medical Examiner’s Office. They were in what appeared to be the smaller of the two vehicles, a light-colored car shown closer to the median.
4:43 AM: Police have just said two people are dead. Here’s what they’ve just posted:
Police received multiple 911 calls of a white pickup truck traveling the wrong way in the westbound lane of the West Seattle Bridge Wednesday morning. Prior to arrival, witnesses advised the pickup truck collided with another vehicle.
(SPD photo)
Police arrived at approximately 12:20 a.m. and found a sedan and the pickup truck in the westbound lane of the bridge. Both vehicles had extensive damage. Seattle Fire Department personnel arrived and pronounced the male driver and female passenger of the sedan deceased. Both victims were 18 years old.
The male driver of the pickup truck was transported to the hospital for serious injuries. Based on the investigation, the male driver of the pickup showed signs of impairment and is under investigation for vehicular homicide.
5:54 AM: After 5 1/2 hours, the scene has been cleared, and the westbound bridge has just reopened.
11:56 AM: A company that records traffic-camera video has tweeted video from the same SDOT camera that we used for the screenshots above. You can see it here; it briefly shows a vehicle described as the wrong-way pickup just before the crash, and then shows Good Samaritans who rushed over to try to help before SPD and SFD arrived. (Added: Commenters have suggested this merits a content warning, as while it is not bloody, it is intense, and does include a brief flash of the crash impact.)
2:02 PM: While the victims’ age was made public, the pickup driver’s age was not. We followed up with SPD and spokesperson Det. Judinna Gulpan explained, “We have not yet been able to identify him yet, therefore can not confirm age.” He will be booked into jail, she said, when “medically cleared.”
6:12 PM: The King County Medical Examiner’s Office has released the crash victims’ names via its daily media list: Khalea Thoeuk and Riley Danard, both, as police had said, 18 years old. While the KCMEO announcement did not include information on the victims’ cities of residence, KING 5 TV reports the two were current and past Snohomish High School students.
that would have captured the truck entering or driving onto the offramp? It’s looking like entrance happened at 35th and Fauntleroy intersection, but confirmation is needed. The City (who manages and is responsible for our bridges) and SPD owes us this info at least – and ASAP. Time to get cracking on some safety revisions.
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