BELLEVUE, Wash. — A truck crashed into a woman waiting at a Bellevue bus stop and pinned her underneath. The crash happened at about 4:15 p.m. on Wednesday at Northeast Eighth Street and 120th Avenue Northeast.
Bellevue police say the 33-year-old driver of the truck was towing a boat and was trying to make a left turn into the Shell gas station. But there was oncoming traffic that had the right of way, and a car slammed into the truck, jackknifing the truck and boat, pushing the truck onto the sidewalk.
That’s where Olga Margolina, 27, was waiting for her Rapid Ride B Line bus while sitting on the bench at the bus stop.
She was able to speak with KIRO7 from her Overlake Medical Center hospital bed Thursday.
“I was listening to my audiobook. Next thing I know, I’m on the ground, and my legs are pinned,” Margolina said.
“Just another reckless driver, but this time it happened to be me who got injured,” she said
Margolina has a fractured face and broken nose, plus serious scrapes on her legs.
“I think I'm alright. I'm still in pain,” she said.
Loved ones in her hospital room say her condition is incredible considering the terrifying crash.
“When I showed, she showed up and she was talking already, I was just like, 'Ahhh,'” said Jonathan Szolas Jr., Margolina’s boyfriend with a sign of relief.
Bellevue police arrested the driver of the truck but said investigators do not believe he was impaired.
“He was at some point in the left turn lane. For whatever reason, decided he wanted to go to the gas station without waiting for traffic to move,” said Capt. Marcia Harnden, of the Bellevue Police Department.
Margolina said it took first responders about 45 minutes to get her free.
“I know I was jammed between the bench and bumper,” she said. “My legs are in pain, people are trying to talk to me, trying to calm me down,” Margolina said.
“They put up sheets so I couldn’t see any blood or anything, but yeah, I heard the saws,” she said.
Margolina said she was on her way to pick up photos for her work volunteering as a mermaid for a kids' summer solstice celebration on Mercer Island.
Despite the harrowing experience, she calls herself lucky.
“It could've been way worse. From the pain I was feeling in my legs, I was sure my legs were broken. And the way the crash happened, I was just glad I wasn't dead,” Margolina said.
Bellevue police arrested the 33-year-old driver of the truck on suspicion of vehicular assault.
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