WOODINVILLE, Wash. — “I’ve never seen anything like it, I’ve never heard anything like it.”
Amelia Winslow says it was a freak accident that could’ve killed her and her 13-year-old daughter.
An excavator bucket smashed into their SUV last Friday morning.
“Your eyes and brain are not prepared for seeing a piece of steel like this flying through the air,” said Winslow.
Winslow was taking her daughter to school, driving down Bear Creek Road in Woodinville.
Surveillance images captured a truck towing a flatbed carrying an excavator.
Moments later, the excavator bucket flew off the flatbed in front of Winslow’s oncoming SUV.
“I didn’t see the truck myself – I saw a giant piece of metal falling out of the sky,” said Winslow.
She believes a split-second to hit the brakes may have saved their lives, as the bucket smashed the front end of the SUV.
“It would have landed right on my windshield and probably crushed my daughter and I,” said Winslow. “Was like driving your car into a brick wall.”
Winslow and her daughter escaped with a few scrapes.
The bucket also damaged a fence on the side of the road.
Winslow says the truck driver kept going as another driver tried but was unable to flag him down.
Meanwhile, Winslow’s thankful she was alert and not driving distracted.
“I’m so glad that I wasn’t looking over at my daughter or changing the music or looking up directions,” she said.
Police are now investigating, trying to track down the truck driver.
“Someone needs to be held accountable for the fact that this was a really dangerous piece of equipment that was unsecured, on the back of a trailer,” said Winslow.