CHOKEPOINTS

Police search for motorcyclist in deadly crash on I-5 in Seattle

Sep 29, 2015, 5:47 AM | Updated: 11:01 am

Traffic cameras caught a motorcycle as it caught fire on northbound I-5 near Mercer Street early Tu...

Traffic cameras caught a motorcycle as it caught fire on northbound I-5 near Mercer Street early Tuesday morning. (WSDOT)

(WSDOT)

Police are searching for a motorcyclist in a deadly crash that blocked all lanes of northbound I-5 in Seattle on Tuesday morning.

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Emergency crews responded to the collision on I-5 at Mercer Street shortly after 5:30 a.m.

“Two motorcyclists, according to witnesses, were racing or traveling at a high rate of speed &#8212 some put them at 100 miles per hour or more,” Webb said. “One of those motorcycles struck a vehicle that was traveling northbound right around the Lakeview exit. That motorcycle went out of control and ejected the driver.”

Webb said that the rider landed about 100 feet from the motorcycle and the debris field was a couple hundred feet long. The motorcycle rider, who KING 5 reports was a woman, did not survive the crash. The motorcycle was reportedly stolen out of Everett in June.

The driver of the vehicle that was struck by the motorcycle suffered minor injuries and was taken to a local hospital.

A second motorcyclist was not at the location when emergency crews arrived. KING 5 reports that the rider fled from the scene.

“The other motorcycle rider who was traveling with that person, on a separate motorcycle, stopped at the scene for a few minutes and then left the scene,” Webb said. “We need to find the second motorcyclist. We need to talk to them.”

Witnesses tell investigators that the suspect was on a cafe-style motorcycle, which is a racer-type bike.

“We believe that the same motorcycle may have come back to the scene again, possibly to look and see what had happened, and then left the scene again,” Webb said.

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