Bellevue officer injured in Vice President Harris’ motorcade released from hospital

SEATTLE — After spending a little under a month at Harborview Medical Center, Bellevue Officer Kevin Bereta was released from the hospital on Friday after falling nearly 60 feet while on Vice President Kamala Harris’ motorcade.

Officer Beretta and his fellow officers were nothing but smiles as nurses wheeled him out of the emergency exit. More than three weeks after an ambulance rushed him into the ICU, Bellevue Officer Kevin Beretta was put into a Bellevue Fire Department ambulance and sent home.

The motorcycle officer took part in the vice presidential motorcade on August 15. During that detail, he was on the Michigan Street bridge, and was ejected from his motorcycle, falling 60 feet onto I-5 and oncoming traffic below. Bellevue’s police chief Wendell Shirley says since then, he’s underwent several surgeries for his injuries. . Shirley also says Officer Bereta is excited to take the next steps toward recovery.

“Wednesday morning I came to visit him -- he was in good spirits, looking good, eager to get out of the hospital as you can imagine,” he told KIRO 7. “I’m sure he’s very happy to be coming out today and going home.”

There’s still no timeline for when Officer Beretta will be back on duty. We did reach out to Washington State Patrol to see if there are any updates into how he was ejected from the motorcycle and we are awaiting a response.

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