EVERETT — It lasted mere seconds, but the high-pitch crumpling noise echoing through north Everett on Thursday morning gave Brenda McLeod a sinking feeling.
“It sounded like prolonged screeching, crunching and grinding,” said McLeod, assistant director of procurement and contracts for the Everett Housing Authority. “It was awful.”
A man apparently under the impression he was being chased by police slammed his car into several vehicles in the northeast Everett neighborhood. He then ran away, deserting the battered black Ford Crown Victoria he’d been driving and his two passengers.
McLeod’s maroon 2008 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck could be deemed a total loss. It was damaged on three sides. An axle was broken. One tire had rolled off and another was flattened.
A white pickup had been knocked on its side, and was partially atop McLeod’s vehicle.
“We would have had it paid off in May,” McLeod said of her damaged Silverado.
Police searched the neighborhood, but weren’t able to track down the driver, Everett police officer Aaron Snell said.
“He hit them pretty hard,” Snell said.
Six cars were damaged.
The incident started around 8 a.m. in the 800 block of Broadway when an Everett patrol officer attempted to pull over the Crown Victoria for a traffic violation, Snell said. The car raced off, but the officer didn’t give chase.
Witnesses said the car blew through a stop sign on Poplar Street, went airborne and lost control before crashing. The cars he hit were parked near the Everett Housing Authority, 2715 15th Street. It is a single story building in the shadows of the Bakerview Apartments, 2605 15th St.
“I heard one man say he thought he was doing 70 (mph),” McLeod said.
The two passengers — a man and a woman — were detained and questioned by police. Both received medical attention. The man, who witnesses said crawled out of a car window, also was arrested on a warrant.
The crash was captured on housing authority video. McLeod reviewed the footage Thursday afternoon.
It happened seconds after a bicyclist passed the same spot, she said. A short time later, a school bus drove by.
“I’m just really thankful no one got hurt,” McLeod said.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com.
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