PORT ANGELES – An attempted car stunt by four teens ended in tragedy Monday evening in Port Angeles, but according to police, it came close to being much worse.
The ill-fated plan was to try to go fast enough to “get air” on a hill along West 6th Street between B and C Streets.
The driver, who was under 18, failed in his first attempt, but came close to hitting two children in the process.
Bad decision #2 was to try it again. Deputy Chief Jason Viada picks up the story from there.
“And then there was some talk about filming the second attempt and somebody actually got out of the car and filmed the second attempt. That’s one of the reasons why we know a lot about the incident already. So four people went down the hill again trying to catch air as they crossed “C” and then they hit a parked pickup truck and propelled that pickup truck diagonal across the street down the hill and both cars ended up there. And then the car so heavily damaged, it was completely incongruous with that kind of damage, that kind of speed, on that kind of street in a quiet neighborhood. I mean, it looked more like a crash that you see somebody going the wrong way on I-5, and it’s right in one of our neighborhoods. Once again, the reason I’m talking to you about this is, this conversation is a conversation that needs to be had community-wide about automobile safety in the future.”
The end result is two teens are now at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, one teen at Olympic Medical Center, and somehow one teen walked away from the crash.
The Washington State Patrol and Clallam County Sheriff’s Office are assisting in the investigation of this incident, which police say appears to be a Vehicular Assault case.
Viada says, for now, the names of those involved will not be released because of their ages.