A broken-down car rolling backward down a hill on Interurban Avenue South pinned a man beneath it just before 4 a.m. Thursday, trapping him until Tukwila police officers physically lifted the vehicle off his body. The man had been trying to push the disabled car uphill alongside a companion when it slipped free and rolled back into him, according to the Tukwila Police Department.
Officers responding to the 14900 block of Interurban Avenue South found the injury crash had left the roadway, with a male trapped beneath the vehicle, according to a Tukwila Police Department post on Facebook. The man was unable to get clear of the vehicle in time as it rolled downhill and knocked him down, police said. Officers rescued him by lifting the vehicle themselves, freeing him from beneath it.
A second person at the scene, the man's companion, told responding officers that the pair had been attempting to push the disabled vehicle up the hill when gravity caused it to roll backward and pin the victim, according to MyNorthwest. That account helped establish how the push attempt turned into a rollaway. Medical aid was then provided at the scene by Puget Sound Fire, which transported the victim to a hospital by ambulance.
A Corridor Known for Late-Night Emergencies
A Corridor Known for Late-Night Emergencies The corridor has seen serious roadway emergencies before: in October 2025, an impaired driver caused a head-on collision in the nearby 14400 block that sent an elderly motorist to the hospital, as reported by The Tukwila Blog, with officers in that case executing a blood draw warrant as part of the DUI investigation.
In May, the Tukwila Police Department announced heightened overnight patrol enforcement along area roadways following a series of regional collisions, according to the same outlet's reporting. Night squads were tasked with proactive patrols aimed at reducing preventable crashes, though it remains unclear whether this rollaway incident will prompt any additional review of the Interurban Avenue corridor specifically.
Why Pushing a Stalled Car Can Turn Deadly
Medical response for the crash came from Puget Sound Fire, the regional authority that formally absorbed and consolidated the Tukwila Fire Department into its operations on January 1, 2023, according to agency records. The authority now covers more than 120 square miles across Covington, Kent, Maple Valley, SeaTac, and Tukwila.
The dangers illustrated by Thursday's incident are far from isolated. Unattended rollaway vehicles injure an estimated average of 1,911 nonoccupants nationwide every year, according to a federal report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Separate research also examines non-driver-controlled rollaways.
Manually pushing a stalled vehicle or unloading cargo can cause injuries. People can also be injured while attempting to re-enter or stop a rolling vehicle. Attempting to stop a rolling vehicle from outside can be dangerous. Wheel chocks and emergency brakes can help prevent a vehicle from rolling.
The man's current medical condition has not been disclosed, and it remains unknown whether a mechanical failure or other issue caused the vehicle to break down in the first place. Whether any citations will follow from the incident has also not been addressed by police.
