Fire Department Lt. Sue Stangl said the Subaru first struck a man, knocking him about 20 feet. It also hit a woman before smashing into a produce truck. The impact shoved the truck into a parked car, pinning a woman who had to be extracted by firefighters.
"He started hitting people like bowling pins. It was horrible," witness Yaacov Reuven, a market musician, told KOMO-TV.
The Pike Place Market is a famed Seattle landmark where workers are frequently seen hurling giant fish back and forth in front of big tourist crowds. It also houses the original Starbucks coffee shop along with an array of seafood restaurants and street musical acts.
Police said the 39-year-old male driver was arrested for investigation of vehicular assault, a felony. He was booked into the King County Jail.
The three pedestrians were taken to Harborview Medical Center where spokeswoman Susan Gregg-Hanson said the man in his 50s was in serious condition in the intensive care unit. The two women, one 25 and the other in her 50s, were in satisfactory condition, she said.
The three suffered a variety of injuries, including broken ribs and abrasions, Gregg-Hanson said.
