Local

Woman killed in ‘dangerous' Tukwila crosswalk

TUKWILA, Wash. — It has been more than 24 hours since Justin Schutz was an eyewitness to the accident on busy Southcenter Boulevard in a crosswalk he has driven through countless times.

"I wish she had seen that he wasn't going to stop," said Schutz.

The crosswalk is actually in the middle of an on-ramp to northbound I-5.

"It was like seeing this awful thing come at you in slow motion," he said.

He was on his way home from work as a pedestrian activated the crosswalk's blinking lights.

"She pressed the button," he said.  "And all I think was 'Please either come to a halt driver of the SUV or her, don't step out.' I saw he was going too fast to stop.  I figured either he didn't see her or was going to try to blow through that flashing light. And before I knew it, she was lifted into the air. The SUV had hit her.  And it came to a stop on the left."

The woman died at the scene. She was identified as 56-year-old Huimin Lin, and her address was listed as China.

KIRO 7 tried contacting the driver, 69-year-old Larry Lowe, but there was no answer at his apartment in Seattle's Rainier Valley.  What he is accused of doing still haunts Justin Schutz.

"Her just looking so vulnerable, being thrown into the air like a rag doll," he said. "It was just unbelievable."

He said he has seen so many near-accidents in the crosswalk, it is spurring him to action.  He plans to petition the state DOT to make changes to make the crosswalk safer.

According to the Washington State Patrol, the driver was not impaired, meaning neither alcohol nor drugs were involved.

Nevertheless, the driver could still be cited.