A Winlock teenager was life-flighted to a hospital after crashing into the back of a tractor-trailer driven by a Vancouver man Thursday evening on northbound Interstate 5 near Vader, according to the Washington State Patrol.
The 17-year-old boy, whose name was not released, was driving a 2005 Ford F-150 pickup behind the tractor-trailer at about 5:15 p.m. on I-5 near Milepost 59. The tractor-trailer slowed for traffic, and the pickup crashed into the back of it, a State Patrol crash memo said.
The teen was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. The tractor-trailer driver, identified as 46-year-old Ilya V. Ionashku, was not injured. Both drivers were wearing seat belts, the crash memo states.
Troopers cited distracted driving as the cause of the crash.
