Two dozen cases of debris thrown at drivers in Seattle in two weeks, spurring calls for action

(KIRO 7)

Seattle now has an average of more than two cases a day with debris thrown at drivers, mostly near downtown Seattle.

3 more cars damaged by concrete thrown on Seattle Freeway

The Washington State Patrol, in collaboration with the Seattle Police Department, has arrested 4 people in the past few weeks.

Another case of stones thrown from an overpass occurred on Friday morning near the Washington State Convention Center. Soldiers say no one was injured in this last case.

However, the continued surge has resulted in leaders urging leaders to take action to end the crimes.

“There’s nothing I can do,” said Kristi O’Brien, senior attorney for a law firm in downtown Seattle.

Motorists are becoming increasingly frustrated because of these terrible incidents.

Scooters, bicycles, rebar, stones – all kinds of debris are thrown from the overpass or the roadside onto the drivers. Some drivers were injured so badly that they had to be hospitalized.

Commuting downtown from Mercer Island, O’Brien said she was well aware of this disturbing trend.

“I look a little nervously at the overpasses every time I drive into my office,” said O’Brien.

Then on Wednesday she saw a propane tank fall over the Dr. Jose Rizal Bridge sped onto the I-90 highway below. It crashed into the driver’s windshield in front of her.

“A full-size propane tank of the type you would use on a BBQ grill,” said O’Brien. “That propane tank is bouncing around in the middle of the freeway,” she said.

She said the driver stopped and seemed fine.

But just two weeks ago, another attorney at her law firm had thrown a chair and a cinder block against his car that was home to his three young children.

“Which upsets me,” said O’Brien. “It feels like something that could be preventable. Why would you not take the necessary steps and take them seriously? “

She also believes that the trend in Seattle is bad for business.

“There are already people who have hesitated to go back downtown for safety reasons, then add that,” said O’Brien.

The Washington State Patrol said Friday that since early April there have been reported 186 cases of debris being thrown at drivers, with most of the cases happening downtown.

False arrest of a man suspected of throwing stones on the highway

There were 161 incidents early last week – 25 in less than two weeks.

WSDOT says it is monitoring traffic cameras and soldiers have stepped up patrols, but O’Brien says that is not enough.

“There will be an immediate security concern until physical barriers are erected to prevent this from happening,” she said. Other drivers have made the same suggestion.

However, WSDOT says fencing is not considered for many reasons.

Among the reasons, a spokesman said this was not an effective solution because:

• There are too many places for the debris to be thrown (WSP says more roadside incidents happen than overpasses).
• Objects like stones can still be thrown over fences
• WSDOT said they had problems with people cutting fences
• Technical assessments would have to be carried out to see if the flyovers could even handle the loads of the installed fences

But O’Brien says that something has to change.

“I’m not pretending to have the answers, I just know this is an urgent security issue,” she said.

Written by KIRO 7 TV reporter Deedee Sun