By Sami Edge and Christine Clarridge
The Seattle Times
SEATTLE — Police are investigating an officer-involved shooting at Ravenna Avenue Northeast and Northeast 65th Street that left a man dead. The shooting followed a hit-and run collision with a Seattle police officer on southbound Interstate 5 earlier on Friday.
According to Seattle police, the man who was killed in Ravenna had rammed a grey car into an officer’s car on Interstate 5 shortly after 4 a.m. and sent the patrol car into the freeway median, leaving the ground littered with debris, before speeding away.
The man shot by police was identified by the King County Medical Examiner’s Office on Friday afternoon as 27-year-old Samuel Smith.
Police said investigators were able to determine Smith’s car was likely a grey Mazda from pieces of the vehicle left at the crash site.
Officers converged on the Ravenna neighborhood after pieces of plastic and debris were found near Northeast 65th Street and the grey Mazda was spotted in the 6500 block of Ravenna Avenue Northeast, police said.
“The damage (to the car) is consistent with that accident scene,” said Seattle Precinct Captain Sean O’Donnell.
After the hit-and-run, officers flooded the area looking for a small dark car with front-end damage, O’Donnell said.
Police said Smith exited his vehicle and ignored an officer’s commands to drop a knife. As Smith approached the officer, the officer opened fire.
“The officer fired several shots and the suspect is now deceased,” O’Donnell said. “He was shot while standing in the street.”
Smith was pronounced dead at the scene by medics.
Police later released dash-cam video showing the officer’s car being rammed and the shooting.
The officer involved in the shooting will be placed on paid administrative leave during the investigation, police said.
Department policy dictates that the incident will be investigated and reviewed by detectives from the Force Investigation Team and Crime Scene and representatives from the Office of Professional Accountability and Department of Justice, police said.
Kiros Yevalh, who is a housekeeper at an assisted living facility near the shooting scene, had arrived at work early and was sleeping in her car when she heard the shots.
She was too scared to get out because of the police activity, she said.
“I’ve worked here 8 years and never heard anything like this,” Yevalh said.
“It was one siren after another after another,” said Byron Allen, 45, who lives at Northeast 65th Street and Brooklyn Avenue Northeast. “It’s a nice neighborhood.”
Sean Lutterman was walking toward Bagel Oasis on Northeast 65th Street where he works around 4:30 a.m. when he saw several cruisers go by. “It wasn’t something I’m used to,” he said. He then “heard the shots and a shout and saw all the sirens go off.”
As he arrived at the corner, he “saw five or so officers in shooting position... I just kept walking and tried not to get hit by all the cruisers out here.”
Tracy Stubbs, who just moved to the neighborhood seven weeks ago from Memphis. said she was awoken by hearing “at least 3" shots. She said she told her daughter to get down from the windows because they didn’t know what was happening.
“I had no clue where it was coming from,” she said. “It’s a little unsettling.”
The investigation into the hit-and-run and shooting had multiple lanes of Interstate-5 closed during much of the morning commute.
The police officer involved in the hit-and-run was taken to Harborview Medical Center, but later released. He did not have any serious injuries, police said.
Police have determined that a body found at the Head or Tails sports bar at Aurora Avenue North and North 125th Street in Seattle on Friday morning was not connected to the man killed in the officer-involved shooting, Officer Lauren Lovanhill said.
Copyright 2015 The Seattle Times