Reckless driver causes two accidents, commuter nightmare

A motorist who struck two vehicles early Wednesday caused a massive backup along Interstate 405 during the morning commute.

Witnesses to the second collision had to hold the woman for state troopers after she tried to fight them off.

"She was claiming she had a broken leg, but it didn't stop her from kicking at the officers," Trooper Cliff Pratt said.

The Washington State Patrol began receiving multiple 911 calls from drivers at about 5:20 a.m., all of them reporting that a Ford Escort was speeding and driving erratically north on I-405.

As the Escort sped along the freeway through Newcastle, it clipped a second car, sending that vehicle into the guardrail. The driver wasn't hurt, but the impact spun the Escort around so it was facing south.

That didn't stop the driver, who then sped off in her new direction. More motorists called 911 to report the now wrong-way driver. But within a quarter mile, the woman in the Escort turned and again headed north, racing through traffic, using the emergency lanes, even splitting lanes, Pratt said.

Near Northeast 112th Street, the woman's Escort clipped a second car. The collision sent that other car off to the left and into a guardrail. It sent the Escort onto a muddy embankment, where it became stuck.

With steam pouring from the vehicle, witnesses feared it would catch fire and tried to rescue the woman in the Escort, Pratt said.

But she fought with her would-be rescuers and eventually, some of them simply pinned her down until arriving troopers could take over, he said.

Troopers do not believe the woman had been drinking, but she was taken to Overlake Hospital Medical Center for a mental evaluation and treatment of her injuries.

The two collisions and the woman's erratic driving caused a tremendous traffic jam on the freeway, Pratt said.

"It's horrendous out there," he said early Wednesday. "It just shows you how one person's actions could just absolutely destroy the commute for an entire region."