Redmond man paralyzed in I-405 onramp collision

A 27-year-old Redmond man suffered a paralyzing injury in an onramp collision when a stereo speaker in his car came loose and smashed into his neck.

The incident took place when the man had stopped at a ramp-metering light at the Northeast 70th Street entrance to Interstate 405 about 4:15 p.m. Saturday, said Trooper Jeff Merrill, public-information officer for the Washington State Patrol.

The man was driving a 1973 Datsun 240Z with a stereo speaker in the rear luggage area that wasn't fastened to the car, Merrill said.

A 40-year-old Bothell man driving a 1998 Ford F-250 pickup truck approached the ramp at high speed and failed to stop, Merrill said, striking the Datsun in the rear.

The impact caused the stereo speaker to fly forward during the collision, striking the driver in the neck. The impact broke the driver's neck, resulting in quadriplegic paralysis, and he remains in serious condition at Harborview Medical Center, Merrill added.

The Ford driver was not injured. The truck was owned by a Seattle painting company. The collision remains under investigation and no charges have been filed.

The patrol warned that it is important to properly secure auxiliary devices in vehicles to prevent such catastrophes.

A widely reported incident involving similar circumstances took place in Kirkland in 1994 when Mike Frier, a Seattle Seahawks football player, was paralyzed from the waist down when a 200-pound stereo speaker broke loose from the rear cargo area of a sport-utility vehicle in a collision on 108th Avenue Northeast and crushed him.

Peyton Whitely: 206-464-2259 or pwhitely@seattletimes.com