1 dead, 5 injured when pedicab collides with scooter, van in Seattle

One person was killed and five injured when a pedicab collided with a scooter and a van shortly before 7 p.m. Wednesday at a busy Belltown intersection.

Seattle police spokesman Jeff Kappel said preliminary witness statements indicated a pedicab with two passengers may have suffered an equipment failure and was coming downhill westbound on the sidewalk of Cedar Street when it entered the intersection with Western Avenue against the red light. The pedicab first collided with a scooter and then a white van, he said.

A 60-year-old male passenger of the pedicab died at the scene. A female passenger, also 60, and the male pedicab driver, 23, were transported to Harborview Medical Center with what appeared to be non-life-threatening injuries, Kappel said.

The male scooter driver, 57; the male van driver, 20; and his female passenger were all treated at the scene for minor injuries.

Kappel said there was no indication that alcohol was a factor in the accident.

Vinnie Brassesco, who lives in an apartment building at Western Avenue and Cedar Street, saw the aftermath of the accident.

"I was sitting in my apartment, and I heard a boom. Really loud. I looked out. One guy was under the van, the other guy was pressed up against the front tire, and the lady was laying in the road," he said.

Jack Broom: 206-464-2222 or jbroom@seattletimes.com

Information in this article, originally published August 6, was corrected August 7. A previous version of this story misspelled source Vinnie Brassesco's last name as Drassesco.