Crash on Pierce County highway near Orting leads to backups, power outage
Traffic is stop-and-go just outside of Orting after a multi-vehicle collision occurred at 155th Avenue East and Orting Kapowsin Highway East Friday afternoon, bringing down a power pole and closing down the road.
Central Pierce Fire and Rescue crews were dispatched at 1:41 p.m., district chief Jeff Cable said.
“It’s knocked down power to the area with an unknown return to service,” he told The News Tribune.
The Puget Sound Energy outage map indicates that two power outages in the area near Orting, beginning at 1:41 p.m., are impacting over 340 customers. The estimated restoration time is 4 a.m. Saturday, the map says.
The Washington State Department of Transportation real-time map showed traffic backups extending about a mile on the stretch of the highway passing Orting Cemetery and Washington Soldiers Home Cemetery.
Pierce County Sheriff’s deputies also responded to the collision, spokesperson Carly Cappetto said.
In an email Friday evening, Cappetto wrote that deputies received a call about a lime green Dodge Hellcat passing another vehicle at high speed.
“The vehicle lost control and witnesses report the vehicle flew 20 ft into the air, flipping around until it hit one active power pole at 155th Ave E/Orting Kapowsin Hwy E,” she wrote. “No other vehicles were hit, however, power lines fell onto a semi-truck and the driver remained inside until the lines could be deactivated.”
Deputies took the driver of the Hellcat, a 40-year-old man, into custody on suspicion of a DUI, and he “blew a BAC of .14 at one of our precincts,” she wrote. “He was released to a family member and results will be forwarded to a prosecutor for charging.”
Neither the man nor the driver of the semi-truck were injured in the collision. The semi-truck driver’s age is unknown, Cappetto wrote.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with additional details about the collision and vehicles involved.
This story was originally published September 5, 2025 at 7:17 PM.
