Man dies after being pushed from car; Shoreline man arrested

A man who was pushed from a car in South Seattle on Thursday morning was strangled to death.

Gary Seaman, 62, was dead when he was pushed out of a Kia Rio near Ninth Avenue and South Dakota Street, Seattle police said. A 27-year-old Shoreline man has been arrested in connection with the case.

Police initially looked at the case as possibly being a medically related death after finding the victim, who had some type of medical equipment attached to his body. But around 9 p.m. Thursday, homicide investigators arrested the Shoreline man, according to police spokeswoman Reneé Witt.

"It's not a random situation. These two gentlemen were acquaintances," Witt said.

Officers were called to Ninth Avenue South and South Dakota Street at 7:30 a.m. Thursday after a witness reported seeing someone push a person with a belt around his neck from a 2005 Kia Rio. Seaman was dead when police arrived. He had appeared to have been dead for a while, police said.

The driver was last seen traveling south on Airport Way South, Witt said.

The man arrested has no prior felony history in Washington state.

Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com