Man driving dealership's stolen car leaves trail of threats, wreckage

SEATTLE — A man in his late 30s was treated for life-threatening injuries Monday night after Seattle police say he drove car stolen from a Seattle dealership like a battering ram, slamming into parked cars before plowing into a house.

Neighbors say the stolen Audi was recklessly speeding down the street so fast, they heard the engine roar and the splintering crash into a house at Northeast 53rd Street and 9th Avenue Northeast before they could see it out the window.

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"It sounded like an airplane fell out of the sky or something," said neighbor Kasey Moniz. "It was just a really loud whooshing sound and just a loud crash. I really thought something fell out of the sky."

Paramedics found the man behind the wheel unconscious and trapped inside the mangled car after it rammed through the bottom of a porch. Beams were splintered, a gas line was cut, for a while, neighbors were evacuated.

Before crushing the porch, the driver blew past Justin Frei. "He vehicle slingshotted around my vehicle probably 50 miles per hour, and then it just started bouncing off other cars."

For Seattle police, finding the unconscious driver in the crashed car was the end of a 911 trail of chaos they say was caused by the same man.

The first 911 call came from a King County Metro Transit bus driver from I-5 at 4:20 p.m. after the man reportedly caused a disturbance when he threatened people. Police say he threatened other people on the street after leaving the bus.

Police say he stole an Audi from University Audi less than a mile away from the crash scene, and totaled Heather Hunter's new SUV, which was parked on the street.

"I hadn't even made one payment on it yet," said Hunter.

Cox Media Group