SEATTLE -- Police said the driver of a sport utility vehicle that plunged into Elliott Bay had been drinking and speeding just before the crash that left two young men dead and four injured.

A Seattle Police Department spokesman said the vehicle may have been going as fast as 80 mph on Alki Avenue Southwest when it flew off an embankment and landed in the chilly waters shortly after 5 a.m.

Fire department medics and someone who lived nearby rescued the four survivors and helped them to shore, Officer Sean Whitcomb said.

"One kid was face down in the water," said Michael Brady, a witness. "So I just took off my shoes, swam out there and got him. A fireman helped me get him up on the shore."

The driver was one of the two who died, police said Monday.

Video: Alcohol Involved In Alki Crash

All four of those who survived were taken to Harborview Medical Center. A nursing supervisor said three were in serious condition in the Intensive Care Unit and one was in satisfactory condition on Monday.

The King County Medical Examiner's Office said Roy Espiritu , 17, died in the crash.

The names of the other person who died was not immediately released.

Police shut down Alki Avenue for several hours to investigate and retrieved the vehicle from the water by late Sunday morning.

Friends of the boys who were killed and hurt tossed flowers into Elliott Bay and others left flowers at the scene.

Neighbors along near Alki Beach said drivers on the scenic waterfront drive often go much faster than the posted speed limit of 30 miles an hour.

A motorcycle accident in the same area killed a skateboarder in April. A few days later, police conducted an emphasis patrol and wrote more than 200 tickets.