Shuttle bus crash kills two women in Seattle

SEATTLE – Two older women were killed after a shuttle bus hit them in the Yesler Terrace Neighborhood Tuesday morning, Seattle police said.

Police spokesperson Detective Eric Muñoz said the shuttle bus accidentally rolled into a smoking shelter inside the gated parking lot of the midrise Hilltop House retirement apartment complex at 1005 Terrace St.

The crash happened about 10:30 a.m., not far from Harborview Medical Center. Muñoz did not give the women’s exact ages.

A third woman escaped being hit, Muñoz said.

Seattle police in an online blotter post said they determined the driver “unintentionally backed” into the area. Police said they found no signs of the driver being impaired. The investigation continues.

By late Tuesday morning, the metal roof of the shelter could be seen crumpled over the side of a retaining wall inside the parking lot. A chain-link fence bordering the retaining wall collapsed over the wall as well.

A white, shuttle-type bus branded with the words Hilltop House was at rest with small dents on the back and debris scattered nearby.

The scene remained quiet as a King County medical examiner’s office vehicle arrived. Three onlookers watched from a balcony of the apartment complex. Yellow marks tracing the path of the bus curved through the parking lot.

The front of a white Sprinter van was also damaged on one corner next to the debris from the shack. At least three chairs sat among the debris.

Mike Nielsen, who said he often walked by the shack on his way to work at Harborview, said he always saw the same two women outside smoking, rain or shine.

After talking with police, Nielsen felt almost certain that the victims were the two women he knew.

“They were always so nice,” Nielsen said.