Pacific – At around 11:30 p.m. Washington State Patrol started receiving phone calls of a Chevrolet Pickup truck driving Southbound in the Northbound lanes of SR-167 near South 180th in Renton.
Several minutes later, miles down the freeway, and dozens of more callers reporting the wrong-way driver, a report of a serious injury collision had occurred at Ellingson Road.
Callers stated the pickup had collided with several vehicles, including two commercial vehicles, and was now on fire.
Troopers and fire personnel rushed to the scene.
They found the pickup and one of the commercial vehicles fully engulfed in flames. After emergency crews were tending to the fire they found one male down in the roadway unconscious and not breathing. Life-saving measures were attempted but sadly, the male died at the scene.
WSP tells us that male was an innocent motorcycle rider that got caught in the chain reaction.
As fire crews put out the vehicle fire, they located the driver of the pickup, deceased.
WSP is still investigating and states this will impact the morning commute coming out of Pierce County.
In total 2 commercial vehicles, 3 passing hitting debris, the wrong way pickup, and the motorcycle were involved in this collision.
Additional from the Auburn Examiner: Northbound lanes of SR-167 remained closed until approximately 4:00 am. The right lane was cleared, allowing a single lane of northbound traffic to pass. All lanes were opened at approximately 9:00 am, after WSP and WSDOT cleared the scene and the roadway. At one point the northbound commute out of Pierce County had a 10-mile long back up.
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