Car hits tree at high speed, killing four teens and injuring two
The one-car accident occurred at 2:40 a.m. yesterday on Rainier Avenue South, just south of South Cloverdale Street in the Rainier Beach area, Seattle police spokesman Scott Moss said.
Police recovered beer from the car but still were investigating whether drinking played a role in the tragedy, which matched a 1993 crash as the deadliest in city history. The boys' identities have not yet been released.
The accident was captured on videotape by security cameras at the nearby Starliter Apartments.
"It looked like they were going way over the speed limit, like 80, 90 miles per hour," said apartment manager Mykel-Morgen Fonnesbeck, after reviewing the video with police.
Fonnesbeck said the car, a two-door Acura Integra, appeared to have sped past another vehicle northbound and then lost control. The video showed the car skidding broadside up the street, slamming into a maple tree by the curb, then slicing apart.
One boy was thrown from the car. The others were trapped inside the passenger compartment by the tree. The video showed the front of the car breaking off and spinning about another 50 feet across the sidewalk and shrubbery, coming to rest by the apartment building's driveway.
"The car was in two pieces," a shaken Fonnesbeck said.
The apartment has four security cameras. Two of them captured parts of the incident.
Hours earlier, trick-or-treaters had trolled the same sidewalk. But this was late enough that the four-lane street was almost empty and no one else was hurt.
The Seattle Fire Department had to cut the top off the vehicle to remove the people from the crushed passenger compartment.
Moss said the six boys were all between 16 and 18 years old. He said four died at the scene and the other two were taken to Harborview Medical Center, where they are expected to survive.
Fonnesbeck said she was jolted awake when her boyfriend heard the crash. She called police and rushed outside. The vehicle's horn was stuck on but the night was otherwise "eerily silent," she said.
Fonnesbeck described the Acura as "a little, tiny white car with too many people in it."
Traces of the accident were swept away by 10 a.m. yesterday, though the car's impact had shaved the top layer of bark off the tree. By late afternoon friends had placed a wreath and flower bouquets by the tree.
Police have not determined whether the driver was under the influence of alcohol, but they did recover a case of beer from the car.
Autopsies are scheduled for tomorrow, said investigator David Delgado with the King County Medical Examiner's Office.
The deadliest previous single-car accident in Seattle claimed four lives, including an infant, near Northgate in 1993, according to the state traffic commission.
The worst in state history killed six people when a Ford Escort slammed into a pillar near the SuperMall in Auburn in 2001. The sole survivor was convicted and sentenced to a day in jail for being an accomplice to drunken driving.
Maria Gonzalez:206-464-2449 or mgonzalez@seattletimes.com
Duff Wilson: 206-464-2288 or dwilson@seattletimes.com