Redmond man paralyzed after crash sends speaker flying

A 27-year-old Redmond man is a quadriplegic after a stereo speaker in his car came loose in a rear-end crash and smashed into him, breaking his neck.

The speaker, in the rear of the man's 1973 Datsun 240Z, was not attached to the car, said Trooper Jeff Merrill, public-information officer for the State Patrol.

The man was rear-ended by a pickup while stopped at a ramp-metering light at the Northeast 70th Street entrance to Interstate 405 about 4:15 p.m. Saturday.

The driver of the 1998 Ford F-250 truck, a 40-year-old Bothell man, was speeding when he approached the ramp and failed to stop, Merrill said.

The speaker flew forward on impact and hit the Datsun driver in the neck. He was paralyzed by the injury and remains in serious condition at Harborview Medical Center, Merrill said.

The driver of the truck was not injured. The pickup was owned by a Seattle painting company.

The collision remains under investigation, and no charges have been filed. The drivers' names were not released.

The Patrol warned that it is important to secure objects 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 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 and crushed him in a collision on 108th Avenue Northeast.

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