Eric Medalle, the creative design director of the Pokémon game series, died in a windstorm on Sunday afternoon, after his SUV was crushed by a falling tree.
42-year-old Medalle, who provided the artwork and graphic designs for games such as Pokémon X and Y, Pokémon Black and White and Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, was taking one of his two young daughters for a drive at around 1.30pm PST in Seattle, Washington, when a windstorm caused a Douglas fir to crash atop Medalle’s vehicle. The impact killed Medalle, but his daughter was rescued by an anonymous 36-year-old woman who retrieved her from the SUV.
Watch the report from Washington’s King 5 News below:
Matt Stemple, a tree trimmer for Seattle Parks and Recreation, told the news station: “I would say it was totally unforeseen with such high abnormal wind speeds and the amount of rain we had received… any prediction or risk assessment that we would have done if we had seen this tree prior just really wouldn’t be valid in such extreme weather conditions.”
Our thoughts go out to Eric Medalle’s family and friends at this difficult time.
