2-Pound Metal Balls Roll Down Seattle Street, Damage 6 Cars

This might seem a funny incident, but it was anything but. The metal balls caught plenty of speed because of the incline of the hill they came from, and turned into a dangerous avalanche that damaged 6 cars and trees. Luckily, no one was injured.

Eyewitnesses described the scene as a nightmare because of the noise the balls made. One family became trapped inside a car on the street, and the driver filming as he tried to back away from the avalanche. One ball cracked the windshield and everyone inside feared the worst.

According to the Seattle Times, a truck had spilled its load of industrial grinding balls. The driver told the police that he was on his way back to the factory because he was unhappy with the way the balls had been loaded, and his GPS had rerouted him to the top of the hill. That’s when his load came undone and hundreds of balls came flying down the street, towards cars and pedestrians.

It took authorities the rest of the day to clean the street of the balls, which Seattle Police spokesman Detective Patrick Michaud initially compared to “just really big ball bearings.” As you can see from the AP video at the bottom of the page, the disruption continued when residents returned home from work and couldn’t park in their driveways because the balls were basically everywhere.

According to reports, this isn’t the first time that a load comes off a truck on that street – in that particular area, no less. Authorities are yet to comment on that or release an estimate for the damage to the cars.

NEW VIDEO: This is why @SeattlePD has shut down 30th Ave SW and SW Genessee. Truck carrying metal balls loses its load, sending the two pound balls tumbling down hill. #KOMONews pic.twitter.com/zjxuY1UAfE

— Morgan Chesky (@BreakingChesky) October 18, 2018