Updated at 1:23 p.m.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
An individual has been taken to the hospital after a vehicle plunged some 50 feet down an embankment off the highway north of Morton this morning.
The first reports were the driver was unresponsive but when troopers arrived, he was awake, alert and talking, according to Washington State Patrol Trooper Will Finn.
“He’s been transported to the hospital with some serious injuries,” Finn said.
Finn said the wreck occurred on state Route 7 about six miles north of Morton.
Troopers responding just after 6:30 a.m. found the 2004 Chevrolet Impala totaled, according to the Washington State Patrol. His car went broadside down into a tree, Finn said.
Scott Geltmacher, 57, of Spanaway, was traveling southbound when he lost control on the snow and ice, crossed the centerline and left the roadway, according to the state patrol.
He was taken to Morton General Hospital with facial lacerations and lots of bruises and then transported by ground to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle as a precaution because of what Finn called small brain bleed.
The investigating trooper blamed the wreck on driving too fast.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter