EVERETT — When Scott Perrault got to work Monday morning, he heard screams.
On the Snohomish River bridge, six stories above, he saw flashing emergency lights. He thought the shouts for help were coming from somebody involved in a traffic accident up there. Aid crews already had arrived.
But the cries continued.
Perrault grabbed a flashlight to take a look a look under the bridge. That’s where he found Melissa Zofchak, 24, of Mukilteo shivering and in pain from numerous broken bones.
“She was just sitting there, yelling for help,” he said.
Police believe Zofchak jumped 60 feet off the bridge to save her own life.
She had gotten out of her car on the left-hand shoulder of I-5 after a fender bender, Washington State Patrol trooper Keith Leary said.
That’s when she said she heard tires screeching, Perrault said. Frightened she might be hit by a vehicle moving at highway speeds, she went over the side of the railing.
“Instinct, I guess. She jumped,” said Perrault, who works nearby at the city of Everett’s wastewater treatment plant.
Zofchak told a friend she saw a car spinning out of control toward her, Leary said. Apparently, she didn’t realize there was nothing on the other side of the rail to catch her fall — only air.
She landed on a berm of soft dirt, but still suffered numerous broken bones.
“She’s got a lucky soul in her,” Leary said.
Zofchak suffered multiple injuries, including a broken shoulder, broken pelvis and broken ribs, he said.
She initially was listed in critical condition at Providence Everett Medical Center, but by Monday evening, doctors upgraded her condition to serious.
Leary said detectives were investigating the incident.
Zofchak was on her way to work at the Seattle Premium Outlets, he said. She apparently recently moved to the area from Michigan.
It’s possible that Zofchak may not have realized she was jumping off a high bridge, he said.
Dozens of traffic accidents littered Snohomish County roads Monday morning. Freezing rain and scattered snow overnight created dangerous driving conditions.
On the bridges over the Snohomish River, there were at least 10 accidents Monday morning, Leary said.
In the Marysville area, I-5 was jammed for hours as drivers navigated the slick roads.
If someone is involved in a crash, especially on the interstate, it’s best not to get out immediately to survey damage or attempt to exchange information with the other drivers, Leary said.
“We want people to stay in their cars until we get there,” he said.
When troopers arrived at the accident on the Snohomish River Bridge on Monday, they thought Zofchak’s car was abandoned.
It wasn’t until they saw Perrault’s flashlight below that they realized someone had fallen, Leary said.
“It caught everybody off guard,” he said.
Perrault’s co-workers called him a hero. He said all he did was offer Zofchak his coat and keep her company until medics arrived.
“Hopefully everything works out,” he said.
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