By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – A 68-year-old motorist who struck the side of a bridge was found on a creek bank roughly 20 feet below the bridge near Doty on Saturday night.
The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched just before 9 p.m. to a single-vehicle accident on Elk Creek Road near Dokter Road and determined the man had been eastbound before the collision, appeared to have exited the passenger side of his vehicle and then fallen to the ground below.
Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Dusty Breen said the driver, Frank C. Wilson of Chehalis, called a relative who phoned 911. Firefighters and medics responded.
Lewis County Fire District 11 Chief Michael Krafczyk said the guard rail before the bridge did it job, preventing the truck from going over the embankment.
The 1996 GMC Sierra sustained major damage, according to the sheriff’s office.
Krafczyk said the patient couldn’t recall what happened. His family figured he couldn’t have been there more than a half hour, Krafczyk said. Wilson was transported to Providence Centralia Hospital.
A hospital spokesperson said Wilson was treated and has been released.
The sheriff’s office believes he was driving under the influence and are referring the case to prosecutors for charging, Breen said.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter