Student’s crash moved a garbage truck 4 feet. A good Samaritan helped keep him alive

An 18-year-old high school student was hospitalized Friday morning with life-threatening injuries after a wreck involving a garbage truck, according to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department.

The force of the Nissan 240SX striking the 26,000-pound dump truck moved it four feet.

At about 8 a.m., callers reported the wreck on 208th St. E. at 52nd Ave. E. Callers said the driver had a faint pulse and was trapped in a black Nissan 240SX. A witness who was a member of military special forces stopped and applied pressure to a laceration on the driver’s neck and attended to the injured man until medics arrived.

A Pierce County Sheriff’s Department statement posted on Facebook said the man had legally passed a school bus before the incident. “It appears that the driver of the Nissan may not have seen the garbage truck, as it struck the back end of the truck and there were no visible skid marks in the roadway,” the statement reads.

“It appears that he may have been hurrying to school at the time of the collision,” the statement reads.

The Challenger High student was transported to a hospital where he underwent surgery.

This story was originally published January 19, 2018 at 2:48 PM with the headline "Student’s crash moved a garbage truck 4 feet. A good Samaritan helped keep him alive."