Driver leaves long trail of damage in SoDo

It took a matter of minutes. But a man leaving a Home Depot parking lot left a long trail of damage in his wake as he sped through the streets of Seattle around 2 p.m. Tuesday, hitting numerous vehicles and pedestrians along the way.

Witnesses and police say it appeared the man hit his targets intentionally. He finally slammed head-on into a semi-truck in the Sodo area and was taken to Harborview Medical Center in critical condition.

There were so many different crime scenes that an hour or two after the incident began, Seattle police spokesman Mark Jamieson said, that police were "still counting" exactly how many victims were involved.

The spree began around 2:15 p.m., when the man, driving a taupe Honda Accord, hit a pedestrian in the parking lot of the Home Depot at 2701 S. Utah St., west of First Avenue South, according to Seattle police.

The pedestrian, who was conscious, was taken to the hospital, Jamieson said.

Leaving the parking lot, the driver struck another vehicle and grazed an off-duty state trooper, who was in uniform, police said. The trooper was not seriously injured.

The man then drove on to Sixth Avenue South at South Lander Street, where he encountered a Metro van. According to Kay Reeder, who worked nearby, he hit the van, backed up and struck it again.

Reeder said it appeared intentional. "He drove off yelling, 'Woo hoo!,' " she said, adding that he also thrust his middle finger in the air.

As the driver sped down Sixth Avenue South, he hit several other vehicles.

Meanwhile, calls were coming into 911 by the minute, Jamieson said, and officers began responding, following the car.

Finally, in the 3900 block of Sixth Avenue South, the man slammed head-on into the semi-truck.

"He was going down the road about 80 [mph] with the cops chasing him," said Warren Dyson, who saw the crash from his mobile emissions-repair van, which was parked nearby.

He heard a loud crash and saw a giant plume of smoke.

"It appears from the actions of the driver that it was intentional," Jamieson said of the crash on Sixth Avenue South.

The car began burning, and officers put out the flames. The driver had to be extracted from the crushed car before he was taken to Harborview. The driver of the semi-truck was not seriously injured.

Maureen O'Hagan: 206-464-2562 or mohagan@seattletimes.com