A 61-year-old man was killed this morning in SODO, and Seattle Police are searching for the suspect. Someone driving northbound on 1st Ave struck and killed the man while he was biking near S Andover Street, just south of the West Seattle bridge viaduct.
The suspect then fled and is still on the loose. The victim died at the scene.
Seattle Police are investigating the fatal collision as a hit and run, but do not yet have a consistent description of the suspect or the suspect’s vehicle to share. We will update this post when we learn more. UPDATE 11/22: Seattle police released this updated description of the suspect vehicle: “Detectives were able to confirm that the suspect vehicle is a Toyota Prius (not a Prius C, V, or other model) from model year 2010 to 2015. If you have any information on this vehicle, please contact TCIS Det. Sanders at (206) 684-8923.”
Our deepest condolences to the man’s friends and family.
The circumstances of the fatal collision and the victim’s identity have not yet been released.
UPDATE 11/22: Detectives were able to confirm that the suspect vehicle is a Toyota Prius (not a Prius C, V, or other model) from model year 2010 to 2015. If you have any information on this vehicle, please contact TCIS Det. Sanders at (206) 684-8923.
UPDATE: Detectives are looking for a white or silver colored 4 door compact hatchback, very similar to a Toyota Prius. The vehicle will have obvious right front headlight area damage. Anyone with information on this vehicle is urged to contact SPD’s Traffic Collision Investigation Squad at (206) 684-8923 and ask for Det. Sanders.
Detectives from the Traffic Collision Investigation Squad (TCIS) are currently investigating a fatal hit and run collision that killed a bicyclist early Tuesday morning in the SODO neighborhood.
At approximately 5:45 am, a 61- year- old male bicyclist was travelling on 1st Avenue South near S. Andover Street. According to witnesses, the driver of a vehicle, believed to be travelling northbound on 1st Avenue, struck the cyclist and then drove away northbound on 1st Avenue South. The cyclist was declared deceased at the scene. There were conflicting descriptions of the suspect vehicle, and detectives are working to get a better description of the vehicle involved.
1st Avenue South was closed in both directions while detectives processed the scene. This remains an active and on-going investigation. This information is preliminary and subject to change. We will update this post with any new information on this investigation.
1st Ave S is a very wide roadway marked only with sharrows. Despite its unfriendly design, 1st Ave S is often the only bike route option. The street was originally listed as a candidate for protected bike lanes in an early draft of the city’s Bicycle Master Plan, but was later removed from the plan despite Seattle Bike Blog’s protests.
The man’s death comes just days after people across Seattle and the world memorialized people who have died in traffic as part of World Day of Remembrance. Neighbors and advocates for safe streets, led by Seattle Neighborhood Greenways, installed white silhouettes at the locations around the city where people died in traffic collisions:
Comments
7 responses to “Person driving killed a 61-year-old man biking in SODO this morning and fled – UPDATED”
On October 10th, a 61 year old cyclist and a dump truck collided at 1st Ave and S. Spokane Street (1 block away from today’s fatality). Do you think this area needs some serious redesign to make it safer for cyclists of all ages and abilities? http://spdblotter.seattle.gov/2017/10/11/detectives-investigating-dump-truckbicycle-collision-in-sodo/
So tragic. I can barely stand reading about this.
This is surely one of the worst places to cycle in the city. You can take the elliot bay trail (and bike lanes) between downtown and spokane street, and they’re pretty good. But once you get to spokane street, you are totally dumped in traffic.
Even with the east marginal way trails, I think there needs to be accommodation on the other side of hwy 99. Either 1st S or 4th S. Sharrows in that kind of traffic are useless.
Ugh. I bike through Sodo every day to work. This is just wretched. I think of this kind of thing every time I hear a roaring engine coming up behind me, and brace myself. Hope the police catch the killer.
It’s not hard to have safe roads. It’s about our collective priorities.
Let’s keep making our voices heard on this.
Who do we get in touch with to make our voices heard about this? It’s ridiculous that 1st Ave S doesn’t have bike lanes. I’ve looked for alternatives, but this is the only real thoroughfare I’ve found to get south into Georgetown from downtown without detouring through Beacon Hill.
Anything south of downtown is considered Tacoma, as far as SDOT is concerned.
The person chasing down the cyclist on Alki bike trail was driving a gray hatchback as well. About 7 seconds into this cell phone video. https://www.reddit.com/r/Seattle/comments/7a9imu/the_promised_video_of_a_driver_attempting_to_run/
Treehugger
I’m pretty sure that’s not a Prius in the video (relevant given the new info that SPD is looking for an actual Prius).