On October 10th at approximately 2:23 p.m. officers responded to a collision at 3rd Avenue and Pike Street involving a tourist vehicle and a motorcycle. Preliminary investigation indicates a motorcyclist was legally stopped in the far left lane of eastbound Pike Street at 3rd Avenue. The motorcycle was the first vehicle in a line of vehicles stopped at the red traffic light. A tourist vehicle was legally stopped in the roadway directly behind the motorcycle.
When the traffic light turned green the driver of the tourist vehicle began to move forward into the intersection, striking the motorcyclist and knocking him over. The motorcyclist subsequently became entangled on the under carriage of the tourist vehicle and was dragged across the intersection before clearing the back of the tourist vehicle near the intersection’s eastern pedestrian crosswalk.
SFD medics responded to the scene and transported the adult male motorcyclist to Harborview Medical Center with life-threatening injuries.
Officers evaluated the tourist vehicle driver for signs of being under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. No obvious signs of impairment were noted. He was interviewed and released from the scene pending further investigation.
Traffic Collision Investigation Squad (TCIS) detectives responded to the scene and continue to actively investigate.
There were no citations issued at the scene, which is standard procedure in serious traffic collisions requiring extensive follow up investigation and collision reconstruction.