Two people in critical condition after Auburn car meet goes horribly wrong

AUBURN, Wash. - Three people were injured - two of them critically - after they were struck by a "drifting" vehicle during a car meet in Auburn Friday night. 

Cmdr. Mike Hirman with the Auburn Police Department said officers responded at 10:20 p.m. Friday to a car crash with serious injuries at 3703 I Street NW. 

It happened at a car meet, Hirman said, with a number of people in attendance and a handful of cars involved. Car meets are informal gatherings of car enthusiasts who show off their rides and often draw big crowds. 

Investigators said at one point, a man hopped into some else's car and starting "drifting" the vehicle, hitting three women in the crowd. 

One was taken to a hospital in Auburn with minor injuries. The other two went to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with life-threatening injuries. As of Tuesday morning, both were still in the ICU.

Two people were arrested in connection with the crash, the car owner and the driver. The owner was booked for rendering criminal assistance, while the man who drove the car was booked for vehicular assault. 

Hirman said car meets are fairly popular in Western Washington, so much so that law enforcement agencies have teamed up to try to "stay on top of it."

"What they do is they get on social media, decide they'll meet at a certain place, and then they'll move from there. Sometimes they can be in three or four places in one night," he said. 

Hirman urged people to call police and report the car meets if they see them happening, not necessarily to shut them down, "but we'll make sure no one gets hurt."