Car accidents

An accident occurred at Merrimount Drive and Island Crest Way on March 3. According to the incident report, a 20-year-old Islander was driving northbound on Island Crest Way. She was driving in the lane which requires all vehicles to turn westbound onto Merrimount. At the last minute, the woman decided against turning onto Merrimount and attempted to veer out of the lane. She consequentially drove straight over the one-foot-high road divider, causing her vehicle axle to snap. The passenger tire folded beneath her car. No injuries were reported.

Car prowl

A man living in the 5900 block of West Mercer Way reported that his car was broken into during the night of March 4. According to the incident report, the car’s front passenger window was broken out and the glove box opened. Items from the glove box were scattered across the front seats. Nothing was reported stolen. Estimated damages are $500. The car was parked on West Mercer Way. A man living in the 4200 block of West Mercer Way also reported that his car’s passenger window had been shattered on March 4. In this case, the perpetrator stole a Blackberry from the man’s car.

Update

The King County Medical Examiner’s Office has determined that asphyxiation due to drowning caused the death of the Island man who drove his car into Lake Washington at Calkins Landing on March 2. The death was listed as a suicide. Mercer Island Marine Patrol divers discovered the car, an Acura RSX, upside-down at the bottom of the lake about 40 feet off the shoreline shortly before 6 p.m. on March 2. Officers were notified of the incident when a city employee noticed tire marks leading into the lake at approximately 4 p.m. After the vehicle was pulled from the lake, police discovered a man in the driver’s seat of the car. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Police were able to identify the man, born in 1983, as an Island resident. The body was transported to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office at Harborview. The man’s family, who were in Thailand at the time of the accident, have been notified.