Just before 3 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 28, a pickup truck and trailer slammed into a dumpster, a small tractor and a guardrail at Vashon’s north-end ferry dock, knocking the tractor into the water and reducing service at the terminal from two ferry slips to one for four hours.

The driver had lost control of the light green 1969 Ford Ranger, which was hauling a 20-foot flatbed trailer overloaded with car hulks and scrap metal when its brakes went out. After the crash, the driver, Ken Sudduth, jumped into the water at the end of the ferry dock to avoid being apprehended.

He swam west and made it ashore close to the small espresso stand there. He was met by Vashon Island Fire & Rescue firefighters and emergency medical personnel, who strapped him to a backboard and loaded him into an ambulance.

The ambulance took him on the next ferry to Harborview Medical Center, where he was treated for injuries and released.

A King County Sheriff’s deputy on the scene wrote the driver a misdemeanor ticket for hit and run, said Sgt. John Urquhart, a spokesperson for the department.

The driver jumped from the pickup truck after the accident presumably to avoid arrest for a warrant issued July 31 for a felony drug charge, Urquhart said.

Sudduth, 41, a Vashon resident, was recognized as the driver by many witnesses at the scene. He has an extensive criminal history, including six misdemeanor charges and a 2003 felony charge for methamphetamine possession.

Sudduth was not accompanied to Harborview by a deputy, nor met as he left the hospital. He was not in police custody as of Monday morning, although Urquhart said it had been the intention of deputies to arrest Sudduth on Friday, Aug. 29.

“We didn’t have the manpower to guard him while they took him over to Harborview, but everybody knows who he is, so we’re going to try to pick him up today,” he said on Friday. “It was quite a cluster over there.”

The accident occurred when Sudduth was unable to slow the truck and trailer’s progress at the end of the ferry dock. The vehicle’s brakes overheated, rendering them useless, according to officials. A small fire erupted in the pickup’s cab just after it collided with the Dumpster and small tractor, or “bull,” belonging to Washington State Ferries (WSF).

Sudduth had borrowed the vehicle from Adam Cone, one of the owners of The Monkey Tree, at about 11 a.m. that day, said Cone. Sudduth said he’d use the truck only to move a few items around on the Island, Cone recalled. Cone called his relationship with Sudduth a “peripheral” one, but said he felt comfortable enough to lend him the truck.

“It’s a great work truck, but it’s an Island vehicle,” Cone said of the 1969 pickup. “I was surprised to learn it was loaded with tons of metal to the point that it lost its brakes and caught on fire.”

WSF’s tractor, or “bull,” is the same one used to push cars that won’t start or haul trash off ferries, and the forceful collision knocked it into the water.

It took a very large tow truck to haul the bull out of the water, said Susan Harris, WSF spokesperson. The tow truck came from Lakewood to do the job, which even required the help of divers to attach hooks to the bull that the heavy-duty truck then reeled in. The bull finally surfaced at 9:15 p.m. Thursday, Harris said.

Paul Engels of Engels Repair & Towing was called to the scene of the accident, but it was designated a crime scene, and a police tow truck impounded Cone’s vehicle.

He explained the likely motivation behind Sudduth’s risky actions that led to the collision at the ferry dock.

“This was all fueled by the recent surge in scrap prices,” Engels said. “Everyone with a pickup truck has become a scrap hauler. It’s the gold rush right now. The price peaked around June or July, and this is a direct result of that.”

He said Sudduth had “grossly overloaded” the truck, which was older and not up to the challenge of braking down the steep descent to the ferry dock with a huge load of scrap metal behind it.

“What a screwball deal,” Engels said. “Legally, I can haul two cars on my flatbed. I was seeing multiple cars on that flatbed. That’s something the Department of Transportation would frown upon greatly.”

Kirk said the fire department had been prepared to deploy its rubber, Zodiac-style boat to the scene if necessary, but Sudduth swam ashore before the boat, which sits ready in Station 55 downtown, was hitched to a department pickup truck and driven to the scene.

The pickup truck’s owner, Cone, said although he was shocked to learn about the accident on Thursday afternoon, he’s thankful the damage was limited to equipment.

“I’m glad no one got hurt,” Cone said. “It’s a good lesson in trust.”