Local

‘It will haunt me for the rest of my life’, driver says five years after Ride the Ducks crash

SEATTLE — Thursday marks five years since a Ride the Ducks amphibious vehicle crashed into a charter bus on the Aurora Bridge.

Investigators found a mechanical failure caused the crash that killed five students from North Seattle College and injured 70 more people. The front axle on the World War II-era amphibious vehicle broke, the wheel came off and the driver lost all control.

Eric Bishop, 59, was behind the wheel of the Ride the Ducks vehicle and struggled to try to regain control but could not.

The Sumner man said he can’t get the crash out of his mind.

“I think about this every day and it will haunt me for the rest of my life,” Bishop said Thursday.

Jurors found Ride the Ducks International and Ride the Ducks Seattle responsible for failing to maintain the WWII-era amphibious vehicle.

The victims and their families were awarded millions.

Karen Koehler is the attorney who represented about 50 of the crash victims.

Phuong Dinh the most injured survivor, is now 22, and a student at the University of Washington.

“They will always have the memories, they will always have the physical reminders. They will never ever ever forget what happened,” said Koehler.

Five years later, the Aurora Bridge remains unchanged, there still isn’t a divider between Northbound and Southbound traffic.

“It breaks my heart that it is exactly in the same condition and is waiting for another accident to happen,” said Koehler.

Ride the Ducks Seattle is out of business, the building near Seattle Center is empty.

Bishop struggles every day. After helping to get injured passengers off the duck vehicle, Bishop was in the last ambulance that left the bridge. He spent a week in intensive care.

“I go over it in my head to think how I could have done things differently, and I can’t,” said Bishop.