Watch As SUV Gets Crushed By Falling Utility Poles In Tukwila

SEATTLE, WA — Tukwila police have released a video showing the utility pole collapse along East Marginal Way last Friday. The video shows one of the poles crushing an SUV being driven by Tom and Linda Cook of Des Moines.

Twenty-six utility poles collapsed during stormy weather on Friday just before 4 p.m. The Cooks were trapped in their car for about an hour, but they emerged with very minor injuries. Seattle City Light is asking a third-party to investigate the incident. The utility still does not know why the poles collapsed.

The video shows the pole collapse from two angles. In the first, you see the Cooks' SUV slammed by a pole. In a second angle, a pedestrian can be seen running across East Marginal Way as poles collapse near the Museum of Flight skybridge.

The pole collapse spanned a one-mile stretch of East Marginal Way from near the Museum of Flight north to near the South Park Bridge. Seattle City Light crews were able to clean up the scene and reopen the road by midday Saturday.

Seattle City Light CEO Debra Smith has said that the utility poles that fell were inspected in 2016. None of the poles were identified as an immediate hazard, but some were slated for replacement.

University of Washington meteorologist Cliff Mass has speculated that weather conditions may have contributed to the collapse. The closest weather station at Boeing Field measured winds at about 33 MPH at the moment of collapse. That's likely not strong enough to topple a healthy utility pole — but Mass said that strong outflow may have boosted winds.