Woman OK after being dragged by rolling car

March 11, 2008 - 02:00 PM
by Staff Report | Skagit Valley Herald

SEDRO-WOOLLEY — A woman was dragged under her own car for at least half a block Monday before the vehicle eventually crashed into another in the heart of downtown.

The woman, who lives just east of Sedro-Woolley, was in satisfactory condition this morning at Skagit Valley Hospital in Mount Vernon, a spokeswoman said.

Sedro-Woolley police said that the woman sustained multiple broken bones during the accident, which was reported about 4:35 p.m.

“She was pretty banged up,” police Lt. Lin Tucker said. “She was sitting up and talking to us. I don’t think the full impact had gotten to her yet.”

The incident began in the parking lot of a laundromat on State Street when the woman went to start her Chevrolet Celebrity, which has a problem with its ignition system, Tucker said. To start the car, she was in the habit of crawling underneath and using a screwdriver on the motor.

On Monday afternoon, her car happened to be in drive, rather than park, and it began rolling, dragging her with it, Tucker said. A passer-by tried to jump in and stop the vehicle, but he failed and the car turned north on Metcalf Street, police said. The passer-by wasn’t injured. At some point before the car turned, the woman had gotten free.

The car continued rolling down the busy car-lined street in the city’s downtown before it struck another vehicle, coming to a halt, Tucker said.

In another accident in Mount Vernon Monday morning, an 84-year-old female pedestrian was hit by a car near Kincaid and South First streets, police said. The woman suffered minor injuries.