In a scene straight out of “The Blues Brothers,” a stolen car busted through barricades and jumped across an open drawbridge, reports KIRO 7. Police in Seattle, Washington, had been tracking, but not pursuing, a white SUV. Road & Track identified it as an Audi Q5 that had been reported stolen. Police spotted the Audi stuck in traffic while the University Bridge spanning Portage Bay was open, deciding it was a good time to apprehend the suspect while avoiding a pursuit.
Unfortunately, the suspect had other ideas. The Audi pulled into the oncoming traffic lanes and accelerated toward the bridge. It didn’t slow down for the barriers, broke through them, and then jumped across the gap in the bridge, risking a plunge of more than 40 feet to the water below. It stuck the landing and accelerated away. Police wisely chose not to pursue, which likely avoided a Blues Brothers-style police car crash.
Is this the new Bluesmobile or what?
The stolen car didn’t evade capture for long. Police soon found the SUV abandoned at the intersection of 42nd Street and Pasadena Place Northeast. It was heavily damaged, and the driver, who remains at large, likely ditched it for that reason. The Audi had a broken windshield, probably from smashing through the gate, and the undercarriage was destroyed. The video shows the SUV landing at a significant nose-down angle from the jump, which likely caused the extensive front-end damage. Unlike some Audis, the Q5 is not a rally car and is not designed to take jumps and hard landings.
Just because you see it in a movie or TV show doesn’t mean it’ll work in real life. Whether it’s the Blues Brothers jumping across a bridge, the Bandit jumping across where the Mulberry Bridge used to be, or any “Dukes of Hazzard” jump ever, the part they don’t show is that every car is basically trashed when it lands. Only movie magic makes it look like it drives away unharmed. Unless you’re like Travis Pastrana and have a landing ramp, you’ll have to fix a lot more than the Bluesmobile’s cigarette lighter afterward.
