Two people were killed when a Mini Cooper plunged into Puget Sound while the speeding driver tried to flee police.
The vehicle went over a ferry dock in the Edmonds area of Seattle on Tuesday night after the driver led police on two high-speed chases, reaching velocities of at least 100mph.
Body camera footage acquired by KOMO News captures officers in a frantic rush to the rescue after the car plunged off the dock with four passengers inside.
Officers hurled life vests and flotation devices to the survivors, who were screaming and shrieking in what police described as a state of sheer ‘panic’.
A man was heard shrieking and yelling ‘help! I’m serious’ as officers tossed rope and the rescue devices into the water below.
Police advised the man to ‘put it over you’ and instructed the other survivor, a woman who appeared in a much calmer to state, to help him.
‘Put this over you, so you don’t go down and you can hold him,’ the officer told her, before asking him to put a flotation device on the man.
Officers rescued three people from the water, including the 29-year-old driver who is suspected of being under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Two other passengers tragically died in the vehicle. It is still unclear if they died by drowning.
Officers frantically rushed to the rescue after the driver of a Mini Cooper drove over the Edmonds ferry dock and into the water Tuesday night with four passengers in tow
Officers rescued three people from the water, including the 29-year-old driver who is suspected of being under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Two passengers died in the vehicle
The horrific incident began just after 11pm when a Washington state trooper tried to pull over the vehicle on I-5 southbound for driving 19 miles over the speed limit.
The driver refused to stop and a chase ensued, but the trooper stopped their pursuit just moments later for safety reasons.
The same car was spotted driving recklessly on the same interstate further south, prompting an attempted stop by a Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office deputy.
The driver, from Tulalip, was weaving in and out of traffic as he drove at speeds greater than 100mph, KOMO reports.
The deputy tried to stop the vehicle, but the driver accelerated to roughly 120mph and a chase ensued.
He exited the highway and continued driving into the suburban town of Mountlake Terrace, before continuing into Edmonds, where he managed to lose the deputy.
The officer finally located the vehicle after noticing a destroyed gate at the Edmonds Ferry Terminal.
Officers threw life vests and flotation devices to the survivors as they screamed and shrieked in what police described as a state of complete ‘panic’
A man was heard shrieking and yelling ‘help! I’m serious’ as officers tossed rope and the rescue devices into the water below
The three survivors were pulled out of the water with serious injuries and taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. The bodies of the deceased were recovered by a dive team. Their identities are being held, pending family notification
Officials say the driver went around the cones, through the gate at the head of the dock, and overboard into the water, where the car came to rest on its head.
A witness told the TV station it sounded like the driver ‘launched it’, adding: ‘He did not slow down at all.’
The three survivors were pulled out of the water with serious injuries and taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.
The bodies of the deceased – a 45-year-old woman from Lakewood and a 48-year-old woman from Auburn – were recovered by a dive team.
The women’s identities are being withheld, pending family notification.
Footage captured by FOX 13 and KING 5 revealed the Mini Cooper was hoisted out of the water after being fully submerged at 40 feet below.
Charges do not appear to have yet been filed against the driver, who officials say was impaired at the time of the crash.
The fully submerged Mini Cooper was also recovered from the water
Edmonds police confirmed the crash occurred in the city, but told Daily Mail its officers were not involved in the pursuit.
They deferred us to the Snohomish county sheriff and Washington state patrol, which is investigating the crash.
Neither department immediately responded to our request for comment.
