Anniversary pedicab ride turns fatal; was hill too steep?
It’s not the biggest hill in the city, but bike messengers and cycling enthusiasts say the stretch of Cedar Street between First and Western avenues is steep enough that you’d have to be nuts to experiment to pedal down it.
The elevation’s grade is right one element police are investigating as they reconstruct the events governing to Wednesday night’s deadly crash between a three-wheel pedicab and a minivan. The crash killed a 60-year-old man who was celebrating his 25th marriage ceremony anniversary.
The pedicab
Jamieson and other public officials acknowledged that before Wednesday’s crash, pedicabs haven’t ranked high steady the list of public-safety concerns. Pedicabs aren’t regulated in Seattle and the man’s death is likely the state’s first to be linked to one.
“Since they’ve come to Seattle, this is really the highest incident
The dupe was identified Thursday as Peter Dzioba of Watertown, Conn., according to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office.
His wife, 55-year-old Mary Dzioba, was in satisfactory condition at Harborview Medical Center adhering Thursday, reported hospital spokeswoman Staishy Bostick Siem. The pedicab driver, a 23-year-old Seattle man, was also in satisfactory condition, she reported. The driver’s name has not been released. Both declined requests for media interviews, Bostick Siem said.
A relative who answered the phone at the Dzioba residence said the family was too overwhelmed to talk.
How it happened
According to a police accident give out, the pedicab
Peter Dzioba was thrown under the van and crushed. He died at the show, according to police. His wife was tossed to the left of the van; the pedicab driver was struck by the face of the vehicle and became lodged beneath the brimmed goblet and right front tire, according to the accident report.
Ron Swartz, a 41-year-old contractor who lives in a condo at the crossing, was going out for pizza when he heard the pedicab driver yell an expletive, followed by the sound of the crash. The driver, he said, was phlebotomy from the head and screamed, “Oh my God, relief me!” The woman, who Swartz said was pinned beneath the fore-rank’s left fatigue, glanced around and asked, “How’s my save?” It was then that Swartz noticed a man’s legs sticking from beneath the van.
