A community of friends is mourning the deaths of three people killed by a fleeing vehicle, while security activists are ready to push the state to fix ongoing problems with its dangerous roads.
A total of five pedestrians were struck by a vehicle that, according to eyewitnesses, sped away from a traffic stop on Airport Road in Everett.
It happened early Saturday morning. Three people died as a result of that crash; two others were seriously injured.
There is still a lot of sadness for the community after that tragedy. That grief is embodied in this monument that friends of the victims have erected. They are mostly unhoused and what happened here has hit them hard.
This is because road safety advocates plan to take their fight to Olympia.
A deep sense of sadness lingers here, hours after five people were hit by a car that eyewitnesses said were fleeing a police traffic stop. Now three have disappeared. One was like a son to Lisa Hutchinson.
“He died instantly,” Hutchinson said, his voice breaking, “and we couldn’t find him at first.”
He was eventually found, she says.
“There,” she said, nodding toward a puddle of water next to the roadway. “I’ll stay there as best I can. I’m still dazed and in total shock.”
The misery continues to pile up as the number of fatalities on the state’s roads continues to rise. In 2020, there were 859 fatal crashes in the state. The number has steadily risen to more than 800 fatal wrecks by 2023.
“We need to make sure these roads are designed for people who walk, bike and roll,” says Kirk Hovenstotter, “and for people who just want to cross the street.”
Hovenstotter, executive director of Transportation Choices Coalition, asked to meet on Aurora Avenue in Seattle, one of the three most dangerous roads in all of Washington state. Now his organization is calling on the state legislature to implement a so-called “mega security project.”
“A ‘safety mega-project,’” he says, “would involve repairing roads like Aurora (in Seattle), Division (Street in Spokane) and Pacific Avenue (in Tacoma) with more sidewalks, more crosswalks and medians, thereby easier to cross the street.”
Until then, there will probably be more painful moments like this.
“It shows you how precious life is,” Hutchinson said, wiping away tears. ‘And life is not a right. It is a gift.”
Eyewitnesses say the three people in the car jumped out. But K-9 tracked them down.
Now Everett police say they still haven’t determined who was driving.
That’s why they let the three people go while the investigation continues.
