Man dies in mail truck crash off State Route 8

A single-vehicle fatal crash involving a United States Postal Service truck and a separate three-car accident on Wednesday, Aug. 17, blocked off an area near State Route 8’s milepost 4 east of Elma.

A call to Washington State Patrol about the mail truck wreck came in at 9:55 a.m. Wednesday, said Katherine Weatherwax, public information officer for WSP.

The approximately 25-year-old man, who was driving the mail truck, died at the scene. His body was found underneath 6 feet of packages inside the truck. The driver was delivering Amazon packages at the time of the incident.

“The mail truck went into a ditch in the woods,” said Weatherwax, who also noted the truck was found in bad shape and 65 feet off the roadway.

Weatherwax said the mail truck driver was headed west before the accident occurred. She said the time of the crash was unknown. It was not known at the time whether speed was a factor in the crash.

“We’re unable to confirm when the crash happened,” Weatherwax said. “His engine was cold. It could have been late (last) night, or early in the morning.”

As of about 11:10 a.m. Wednesday, the state route was still blocked in both directions for both the fatal crash, as well as the three-car crash that happened in the same vicinity.

According to the WSP website, there was a detour in place at the intersection of State Route 8 and State Route 108.

There were no injuries in the three-car crash that involved an ambulance. A call about the three-vehicle crash came in at 10:18 a.m.

According to Weatherwax, the ambulance was not moving and was already on-scene for the earlier mail truck crash.

“A car struck an ambulance, and then another car struck the car that struck the ambulance,” Weatherwax said.

The fatal crash was the second such incident in Grays Harbor County since Friday, Aug. 12, when a Hoquiam man attempted to turn left onto Ocean Beach Road, failed to yield at the intersection of U.S 101 North and Ocean Beach Road, and then struck a white Toyota Tundra.

A 15-year old boy, who was riding inside a Honda Civic, was pronounced dead at that scene. Two other 15-year old boys, who were also passengers in the Honda Civic, were airlifted to Harborview Medical Center. They are listed in critical condition, Weatherwax said.