An automobile accident that blocked 132nd street near Mill creek left a seriously injured teen trapped in the wreckage of a car for nearly an hour Tuesday.
The cause of the three-car crash is still being determined, Mill Creek police spokeswoman Robin Swanson said.
According to officials, the accident occurred about 10:30 a.m. when a red SUV and a black minivan collided head-on. A third car then became involved in the pileup.
“It was almost like a bomb,” said Courtney Norkin, 21, a barista at Buffalo Espresso, located opposite the crash scene. She said she turned away from making coffee drinks and saw the air bags explode inside the cars.
“It was really scary. I’ve never actually witnessed an accident like that,” she said. “It was intense.”
Snohomish County Fire District 7 Battalion Chief Ralph Provenzano said that five people were hurt, including the 17-year-old boy, who was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle by helicopter with what appeared to be multiple broken bones. The other Washington car accident injuries seemed to be minor.
The roof of the minivan the boy was driving had to be cut off by rescue crews to get him out, Provenzano said. He also said that three people from the SUV, two women and a young girl, were taken to a hospital as a precaution. The driver of a third car suffered minor injuries and was treated at the scene.
By Tuesday afternoon, the teenage boy was listed in stable condition at Harborview, Swanson said.
Detectives from the Snohomish County sheriff’s automobile crash investigation team helped Mill Creek police at the scene.
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