No one hurt in freak accident

A SUV crashed off a rock wall and was suspended on top of a blue mailbox after it smashed the roof of a parked car just before 3 p.m. on Friday in the True Value Parking lot of the Town Center.

October 31, 2008 7:21 pm
A BMW sport utility vehicle rests atop a U.S. Postal Service mailbox and a parked Subaru after jumping a retaining wall out of a parking lot along 76th Avenue S.E. shortly before 3 p.m. in the downtown business district of Mercer Island on Friday.
A BMW sport utility vehicle rests atop a U.S. Postal Service mailbox and a parked Subaru after jumping a retaining wall out of a parking lot along 76th Avenue S.E. shortly before 3 p.m. in the downtown business district of Mercer Island on Friday.

A SUV crashed off a rock wall and was suspended on top of a blue mailbox after it smashed the roof of a parked car just before 3 p.m. on Friday in the True Value Parking lot of the Town Center.

According to a report on the city’s Web site, the driver of the SUV inadvertently pushed the accelerator pedal, instead of the brake, causing the vehicle to lunge forward and over the retaining wall.

Dozens of bystanders gathered around the scene and were snapping photographs while police interviewed witnesses and firefighters blocked the street. According to witnesses, the driver of the car seemed OK, despite what looked and sounded like a severe crash. Two witnesses contacted the Reporter to share what they saw and heard. Katie McFarland and Anthony Pedreira, a sixth-grader at Islander Middle School, were heading to True Value when the accident took place.

“It was extremely loud,” said McFarland, who was just getting out of her car when she heard the crash. “It was like a tree falling. I immediately thought of Anthony and had to check on him because it sounded like it could have been anywhere.”

Pedreira said he saw the accident and watched as the SUV “bounced up” and landed on top of the Subaru and mailbox.

“I wondered if anybody was hurt and thought of the coincidence that it was Halloween,” Pedreira said of his immediate reaction.

McFarland said she saw the driver get out and “couldn’t believe” that she was not injured, given the sounds and sights of the crash.

Mercer Island Police detective Jeff Magnan said the woman driving the SUV was treated at the scene by Island firefighters and was cleared to go home. Police and firefighters remained on the scene of the accident for two hours until the wreckage was cleaned up and tow trucks removed the vehicles.

The SUV did not seem badly damaged, but the roof of the white Subaru was completely smashed from the impact of the SUV. As it was suspended above the damaged car, exhaust continued to bellow out of the tailpipe of the black BMW SUV. It appeared that a parked red Oldsmobile sedan was also damaged in the accident. Scratches and dents ran along the entire driver’s side, and a mirror was lying next to it on the ground.

The Postal Service responded to the alarm and secured the mail contained in the damaged mail box.