From bad to worse: When real life is like a comedy show

Reader John Boril was the witness to what might seem like a far-fetched story - but he had his phone to take pictures.

Stury and photos by John Boril

Had an interesting one here today. Began about two this afternoon with a fairly small, routine crash along 5th Avenue NE, just north of NE 175th.

A woman driving southbound on 5th ran off the road and crashed into a small boat shed. (She admitted that she was using her phone behind the wheel.) No big deal.

Then the tow truck showed up. He had to pull the car uphill out of the shed. But as soon as he cleared the curb, the car’s rear was now on 5th Avenue facing downhill. And it was in neutral.

The now loose car rolled past the tow truck and crashed into a pickup parked nearby. The tow truck driver hopped out to try to stop the car, apparently leaving the tow truck in gear.

It took off down the road and went about a block before crashing through a fence at the corner of 5th NE and NE 178th. It crashed down into a yard, rolled across the yard, and smashed into the home.

The good news, nobody hurt in either crash. The bad news, nobody was rolling video when the tow truck got away!