A 30-year-old man suffered minor injuries Friday when a train hit the back end of his flatbed truck in Puyallup.
The driver was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital for treatment, police Capt. Scott Engle said.
The accident took place in a sparsely populated area of the city and did not affect traffic. However, it created quite a mess.
Engle gave this account:
The man was driving a 30-foot-long flatbed truck loaded with residential recycling containers west on Seventh Street Northwest. Just after 7:10 a.m., the truck crossed the railroad tracks in the 2700 block.
A Union Pacific freight train heading from Seattle to Portland hit the rear end of the truck. The impact sent the truck spinning. It landed 20 to 30 feet off the roadway. The recycling containers scattered.
The train sustained minor damage to the front engine.
The railroad crossing is marked and has a stop sign. It does not have crossing gates.
Engle said it wasn’t immediately known whether the driver stopped at the stop sign before crossing the tracks.
The driver was not cited. Police will review video evidence as part of their investigation into the crash.
stacey.mulick@thenewstribune.com