FIFE, Wash. — Southbound Interstate 5 was closed for nearly five hours after a pedestrian was killed on the freeway in Fife early Monday.
Washington State Patrol Trooper Robert Reyer said calls to 911 about a man lying on the freeway at 54th Avenue East started coming in at around 2:40 a.m. The southbound lanes were closed at that exit but reopened at about 7:15 a.m.
When troopers arrived, the man had been hit by several cars.
Reyer said the man may have fallen from an overpass onto the freeway, but the circumstances of the crash are still under investigation.
The driver of one car that hit the man stopped and cooperated with troopers. Anyone else who may have hit the man without realizing it or who has dash cam video of a man holding a pink stuffed animal in the area is asked to call 911.
“I can almost guarantee you that you will not be liable because this is something where you’re not expecting someone to be lying in the roadway. And may not be the first or the second person, unfortunately, that may have made contact with that person,” said Reyer.
Troopers combed through a large scene that was about 1,000 feet long.
“We would ask the public for their help because we know that the person, the deceased, was holding what appeared to be a stuffed animal. So we would ask the public to call us and let us know if they observed somebody fitting that description: A male, potentially heavier set, with a stuffed animal in his hands, around 2:40 (or) 2:45 a.m. this morning, on (the 54th Avenue East) overpass,” said Reyer.
