Fatality On OK Highway This Morning

One person is dead and another critically injured in a collision between a car and a dump truck near Orting according to Graham Fire & Rescue.  The alarm sounded at 10:51am.

"The car was coming out of a driveway just at the rise of the 23600 block of Orting-Kapowsin Highway." said Deputy Chief Gary Franz of Graham Fire and Rescue. "There were two passengers in the car, which was registered to a Seattle address, and neither of them apparently saw the dump truck approaching based on the directions the two women were looking when officers arrived on the scene and began 'in-position' CPR on the driver.  They were both unconscious.  The effort on the driver was later stopped due to non-response.  The passenger was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital with multiple system trauma."

The driver of the dump truck was uninjured.  According to Franz, the dump truck was not traveling at excessive speed, and the investigation has shown to prove the driver did everything within his power to stop the dump truck in the 45 MPH posted stretch of road.

The closure of the road lasted several hours as the fatality investigation continued well into this afternoon.

It's a tragic incident in which many locals have publicly voiced concerns over as Orting grows and dump trucks continue to charge up and down the Orting-Kapowsin Highway, Orville Road, and through the downtown streets.

Chief Franz reminds all individuals to remind themselves and out of town guests that even though there are many rural roads in our areas, that doesn't necessarily mean they are devoid of traffic and often serve as portals for large vehicles and machinery