Condition of 1 teen in I-5 collision upgraded; 4 remain in hospital

SEATTLE -- A two-car crash on I-5 involving eight teenagers Thursday morning ended with one car flying off the highway and rolling about 100 feet down a steep slope and coming to rest on a tree.

Six of the eight kids were hurt.

As of Friday morning, one of the 17-year-old boys was listed in critical condition at Harborview Medical Center. Another 17-year-old boy was upgraded to serious condition, and two other boys were in satisfactory condition at the hospital.

Skid marks from the crash lead up to a mangled guardrail on I-5 near Boeing Field. A  Lexus went off an embankment with four teens inside.



“I don’t know if the car went up and rode the guardrail before it went down,” Washington State Patrol trooper Clark Jones said.

The State Patrol said later that the Lexus and a Toyota Camry merged at the same time into lane 3 on southbound Interstate 5 and collided. The Lexus left the roadway to the right and struck the end of a guardrail before rolling down a steep slope.

The Seattle Fire Department said firefighters found one teenager ejected and  two additional  patients trapped  inside the car that had rolled about 100 feet down a steep slope and was resting on a tree.

The Toyota struck a guardrail on the right, too, then traveled across all lanes of I-5 and struck the left-side guardrail, coming to rest on the left shoulder.



Firefighters had to saw off the roof to the Lexus to reach the injured teens. One of the kids had a serious back injury.

The other car involved, a Toyota Camry, also had four teens inside.

“There are witness reports that these vehicles were possibly driving erratically prior to the collision,” Jones said.

Traffic backed up for miles as investigators shut down two southbound lanes of I-5  for more than five hours to gather evidence.

“It’s going to be an extended investigation; it’s going to be a felony investigation,” Jones said.

The Seattle School District confirmed that at least six of the eight students in the crash go to Cleveland High School.

“I hope they are OK and hope to see them in school again,” student Jerome Tabasan said.

According to the American Safety Council, the 100 deadliest days for teen drivers are between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Cleveland High School students say this accident is an emotional wake-up call.

“I just use everything they taught me in driving school; you just have to have your eyes on the road,” one student said.

“Be careful out there, anything can happen,” Tabasan said.

Three students were in satisfactory condition as of Thursday afternoon. Another teen was treated and released from Harborview.