Five-Vehicle Crash Blocks Harrison Avenue Monday Afternoon

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    A multi-vehicle crash, apparently caused by a large delivery truck, created backups and blocked Harrison Avenue in Centralia under the Interstate 5 overpass Monday afternoon.

    At least five vehicles were involved in the wreck that witnesses — and an uninjured driver whose vehicle was hit — said was due to a delivery truck driving faster than normal on eastbound Harrison Avenue at approximately 1 p.m. Riverside Fire Authority officials told The Chronicle everyone involved in the accident declined treatment at the scene.

    According to witnesses and the Centralia Police Department, the box truck had been traveling in the left lane of eastbound Harrison Avenue before rear-ending a pickup and striking three more vehicles before resting against the hill near the overpass. The box truck came to rest on the shoulder of the eastbound lanes with a Honda car’s driver’s side and hood smashed up against the truck. A Ford Festiva, meanwhile, lay on its driver’s side on the sidewalk closest to the eastbound lanes.

    Gary Baker of Onalaska, driver of the Festiva, said the Rent-A-Center truck had been “barreling” down the road before striking his vehicle. Baker escaped uninjured, but at the time was afraid others might not be so fortunate.

    “The first thing I saw was that truck getting really close and going really fast, and next thing I knew it hit me and I’m on my side facing the other way,” Baker said. “Shook me up pretty good, especially with all these other cars here that were hit pretty good.”

    Three Rent-A-Center employees ran from their store at 2023 Borst Ave., less than a quarter-mile from the scene, to the crash site. All three declined to speak to The Chronicle regarding the wreck.

    Baker was convinced the truck was traveling much faster than the posted speed limit of 30.



    “There’s no way he was going 30,” Baker said. “He had to have hit me at about 45 miles per hour.”

    The crash closed down Harrison Avenue underneath the Interstate 5 overpass. Centralia police diverted eastbound traffic onto Interstate 5 southbound, and westbound traffic was diverted either onto I-5 northbound or allowed to make a U-turn back into town.

    Police said the road reopened roughly one hour after the crash.

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    Christopher Brewer: (360) 807-8235