PORT ANGELES — A semi-truck carrying wood chips rolled onto its side the Tumwater Truck Route, trapping the driver inside.
Port Angeles Fire Chief Dan McKeen said fire crews used the “jaws of life,” which are a hydraulic extraction tool, to remove the driver, Marvin Murphy of Port Angeles, from the truck.
The 3:34 p.m. wreck caused traffic delays Friday until about 6:30 p.m. and sent Murphy, 31, to Olympic Medical Center to be treated for a leg injury.
Port Angeles police Sgt. Jack Lowell said Murphy was cited with second-degree negligent driving.
He said that Murphy was driving too fast when he was entering the truck route — state Highway 117 — from U.S. Highway 101, and that his driving caused the rollover.
Lowell said the north-bound lane of the truck route was closed until about 6:30 p.m.
Lowell said the state Department of Transportation placed traffic signs on Highway 101 to warn drivers of the accident.
The truck rolled onto a grassy area off of the roadway, McKeens said.
The owners of the truck, Herman Brothers, Inc., provided a large crane to hoist it onto an Evergreen Towing truck to remove it from the side of the road, he added.
The spilled road chips did not create a traffic hazard, he said.
