Two Cars Roll Off First Hill Parking Garage, Injuring 2
An 88-year-old man was trapped in the passenger's seat as the car went over the edge.
It was the lunch hour in the thick of Capitol Hill when two cars, one right after the other, did a free-fall from 20 feet above.
"One of them was even spinning," says witness Laura Dergan.
"I was in here at the cash register and I heard a noise and saw the bricks falling and thought it was an earthquake," says Dergan, who owns a deli built under the parking lot.
Dergan saw a PT Cruiser and a station wagon fall.
"It was like something you'd see in a movie, except there was an elderly man in the station wagon when it came down, (and) he got his face all cut up," says Dergan.
Police, who were amazed themselves, described his injuries as minor. They say he was in the passenger seat and probably didn't have time to react.
Investigators say his daughter says she put the car in park and ran into the drug store. But somehow, the gear popped into reverse sending the car backwards and right into the PT Cruiser, sending both of them over the edge and down on to the sidewalk on Broadway near Union Street.
When the cars landed, Khal Beleh was standing less than 3 feet away taking a cigarette break.
"This is a busy sidewalk; a lot of people come through for lunch -- usually it's crowded," he said. "Someone's life was spared today and on of them was me."
One couple was on their way to lunch, but on the other side of the street.
"We could have been on that side," says Jeremy Nonatoe.
Scary because unsuspecting pedestrians not only dodged the cars, but a steel beam came crashing down along with the parking lot's railing and bricks.
Giant pieces of fallen concrete are only a façade, they're actually bricks encased in 6 to 8 inches of foam.
"I saw bricks falling and then the railing and then all of the sudden I see the station wagon coming over and I saw the other car going through the air and flipping upside down," says Dergan.
"She grabbed me and I'm like, 'Whoa!' Like I can't believe that just happened. How many cars do you know fall off a platform like that out of nowhere?" says Nonatoe.
How many? Two. But the people who witnessed it said they hope they never see another.
Police say the couple who owns the Cruiser was just minutes from returning to their car and actually saw it go over the edge.
Witnesses say they're in Seattle to attend the funeral for their son, and now this.
The 88-year-old man was taken to Harborview for observation. Another nearby pedestrian was treated for minor injuries from flying debris.