On September 17, in a scene that looked ripped from a Hollywood car chase, a driver in a stolen vehicle drove onto Seattle’s partially raised University Bridge and launched the car across the gap in a desperate bid to escape police. Seattle Police report officers first spotted the stolen vehicle in the 10th Avenue East area around midday and attempted to stop it before it fled into neighborhood streets. The dangerous stunt was captured on city cameras and has left residents asking how one more headline-grabbing escape was even possible.
Traffic and dashcam footage show the SUV — later identified by multiple outlets as an Audi Q5 reported stolen — smashing through safety arms and accelerating over the opening span before landing on the far side and continuing northbound. Authorities later located the heavily damaged vehicle abandoned near Pasadena Place East, with a shattered windshield and severe undercarriage damage, but the suspect was not in custody. The raw video is jarring, but the facts are clear: a crime, a dangerous escape, and a suspect still at large.
The incident was recorded from multiple angles, and news outlets broadcast clips of the car becoming briefly airborne as the drawbridge opened to let marine traffic through. Police prudently chose not to pursue across the gap — a decision that likely prevented a worse tragedy — and later released footage and details of the chase. Watching it play out, every hard-working citizen should be grateful officers put public safety first even while criminals grow bolder.
Seattle’s official blotter and traffic camera releases show the driver’s route, the failure of the barrier to stop the vehicle, and the moments that followed, information the public needs to hold local leaders to account. This isn’t the first time a soft-on-crime climate has produced spectacle instead of safety, and the footage should be a wake-up call to policymakers who have treated law enforcement like the problem rather than the solution. We need leadership that supports police, not political posturing that leaves citizens vulnerable.
Beyond the theatrics, the stunt could easily have become a deadly catastrophe: outlets reporting on the scene noted the risk of a plunge into the water below from the bridge’s opening, an outcome that would have meant loss of life on top of lawlessness. The damage to public infrastructure and the very real danger posed to drivers and pedestrians are not acceptable consequences of permissive criminal policies or political softness on property theft and carjacking. Seattle residents deserve streets where they can work, shop, and raise families without daily fear of being collateral in someone else’s joyride.
Americans who pay taxes and follow the rules should demand accountability — not another round of excuses — from elected officials who have allowed criminality to roam the streets. Support our police, fund sensible public safety measures, and restore consequences so that the next time some thrill-seeking thief thinks a bridge is a ramp to freedom, they meet a justice system that actually protects victims. There can be no compromise on safety: hardworking citizens deserve leaders who will stand firm and restore order.
