Brush Prairie woman dies after runaway truck runs her over

A Brush Prairie woman died Monday night after accidentally being run over by a runaway truck that her boyfriend was trying to stop.

Barbra Delgrosso, 43, was standing in the flatbed of a broken-down truck around 8 p.m. Monday on Pandora Point Road north of Woodland. She was moving firewood to another truck with her boyfriend, Jered Pickner, 28, and their friend Todd Lemon, both of Woodland, according to the Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office.

Pickner got inside the working truck to move the trucks closer together. When he pushed on the brakes, the truck didn’t stop and struck the disabled truck that Delgrosso was standing in, sending it downhill, the sheriff’s office said. Delgrosso either fell or jumped out of the truck.

Pickner got out of the working truck to try to help, but he was hit by the truck’s open door as the vehicle kept moving. He eventually was able to jump back inside the truck and bring it to a complete stop, but only after the truck struck Delgrosso.

Pickner found Delgrosso on the ground underneath the working truck. She was placed inside the truck and told Pickner that she was going to be OK as they as they drove toward Woodland to get help.

They met an ambulance at Green Mountain and Shirley-Gordan roads. Delgrosso died in the ambulance. Her cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head and chest, according to Cowlitz County Chief Deputy Coroner Brett Dundas. The death was ruled an accident.

The sheriff’s office continues investigating. Detectives said there’s no indication of foul play or that drugs or alcohol played a role in Delgrosso’s death.

Pickner lives on Pandora Point Road, but detectives aren’t sure whether the death occurred on his property.