Driver dies in wrong-way crash on Interstate 5
WOODLAND, Wash. – Police said one man died after driving the wrong way on Interstate 5 and crashing into a pickup truck in Woodland early Saturday morning.
Elton Cole, 28, was going southbound in the northbound lanes and crashed into the truck just after 5 a.m. near exit 21. Police said Cole was not wearing a seat belt.
Cole died at the scene. Medics took the pickup truck driver, 30-year-old Eric Nelsen, to a hospital. His injuries are unclear.
Police said it's unknown if drugs or alcohol were involved in the crash.
If you want to buy either of these cars, they are going to be sold at Copart in the next couple weeks. Just saw them their yesterday... Blood stains and all.
@Josh Thats sick!
i hate how everyone thinks they just know what happpened!!! he has a daughter a wife he was a son a brother a good friend and a all around good person he had such a big heart he would never hurt anyone!!! untill you know the facts dont say mean heartless things he has a family and his family can see this!!!!!! he was a good person you he could make anyone laugh no matter what kind of mood you were in. sunny may you r.i.p gone but never forgotten. my heart goes out to your family.
people should think before they say some of the things they say would you want to read some of this if this was your son, friend, husband father!!!
@lsfairbrother Sorry but your views and the rest of the world's are different. This guy you think so highly of nearly killed an innocent 30-year-old man who is somebody's son, and maybe brother, father, friend, husband, boyfriend, etc. Stop defending him. He was wrong - dead wrong.
@lsfairbrother Sunny was amazing, I loved him and am so saddend on what happened that night,
 I know everything and its sad.. His girlfriend is devastated , yes he was in the middle of a divorvce and he was living with an amazing woman... Again he will be missed..
@lsfairbrother Well, since you seem to know so much about this guy, why don't you enlighten us on what happened? Cause you know, K2 can't seem to get any information. Did he have a medical problem that made him get on the freeway in the WRONG direction? Was he drunk? What?? If we had more information, people might not be so harsh. Until then, all that anyone can do is assume, and the odds are that he was under the influence.
Oh, I really hope that the driver of the truck, whose life is now ruined possibly forever, recovers sufficiently to regain life as he knew it.
also i do hope the man in the truck is okay and recovers fully.
I hope Eric recovers fully from his injuries, and my heart goes out to families of both young men as they deal with this tragedy. Regardless of the cause, two families have have deeply altered by this event and both are going to need a lot of support at this difficult time.
Well lets be glad the one who wasn't driving the wrong way was in the truck.
@Jeepers There's all the reason you need to affirm the fact that persons riding in trucks are SAFER on our roads than persons riding in small easily squished down Honda Sedans.Â
Think about how safe it would be to be illegally driving on I5 in a "smart" car? Smart cars not safe to drive on a city street if they collide with anything - anything at all. Or is there Insurance Industry tests that affirm "smart" cars ever were designed for the SAFETY of the public...
Absolutely! EVERYONE should be in gas a guzzling SUV. And to minimize the danger to the family, the driver must be the only occupant. And of course there needs to a gun rack for the .50 cal. Probably a couple of handguns in the side pockets, too. After all, there is this Second Amendment right to guns (an obligation, really). I forget which one it is, but there must be a Constitutional right (obligation) to drive the biggest rig you can find. Oh. Wait. If we all drove Smart Cars, wouldn't that be safe, too?
" Police said it's unknown if drugs or alcohol were involved in the crash." as of 19:26...
A lot of people assuming what happened, calling the deceased driver an idiot, or drunk or high...so far KATU does not seem to have the actual cause.Â
A person died no matter what, someones son, brother or relative. Another person was injured.
It is sad for two reasons, one died and one is injured. Hopefully the whole story will come out. Then people can either call names or point fingers
Condolences to the family of Elton and prayers to the family of Eric that he recovers from this tragic accident.Â
@granny4life Yes. A totally preventable accident. A life that was lost that didn't need to be... if only. A man is in the hospital who was doing nothing wrong - and no one knows if he will survive. Let's all pray that people THINK before they choose to drive recklessly and negligently like this.Â
@granny4life Thank you Granny4life! One of a few that seem to not need to point fingers
So, where are all the idiots  usually on here who would  had already assumed the driver was an old person?  Guess they crawled back into their holes.
"Police said Cole was not wearing a seat belt."
I don't think that seatbelts would have made a difference in this crash.
More than likely it will be a closed casket funeral.
High chance drugs or alcohol was a factor. I mean.. I really can't fathom how someone just accidentally goes the wrong way on a freeway. I don't even know how that's possible..... sucks the man was killed. Speed recovery for the victim.
@Liberty4_WAÂ Actually, I can easily think of ways for it to be "possible". Â That it occurred at 5am could mean that he was half asleep (either because he was up early, or had stayed up most of the night). Â He could have been ill enough to just be groggy. Â Other reasons come to mind, as well. Â Granted, drugs and alcohol are the most usual and most likely. Â They simply are NOT the "only" possibility.
@Liberty4_WA I can see it happening,not all overpasses on ramps are the same and if it is dark.It is a very serious  thing and if one if not very sure of where they are it is best not to be there.Yes high chance there was some kind of impairment.Â
@Christian perspective If you're paying attention you should figure out something's wrong extremely quickly if you've got lanes and a median to your RIGHT.Â
@NGerblansky @Christian perspective Yes! you are right.Sorry for the typing mistakes
When do you realize you are the one going going the wrong way instead of the idiots coming at you?
@Bert At 55 mph, seeing that a vehicle is coming at you at 55 mph doesn't give you a great deal of time to react.  Just saying.
That's too bad for his family and friends, but maybe it was a Ford assisted suicide.
Truck one, ricer zero.
I tell you what it is...everybody went out and bought a prius now with all the money they saved in gas they spend on alcohol and drugs...
@Common Sence Pricks in Prius presuming to preserve planet pretending petroleum not provided providentially as a present providing power and plastic for people and prius production.
@Common Sence Huh?
The KGW article states that the Honda did not have there headlights on....so it will be interesting what the report will be after the toxicology tests are done.
@Somanyfools The Columbian also reports that he wasn't wearing a seat belt (and they have the names and ages of both drivers -- 28 for the deceased driver and 30 years old for the truck driver) but the pick up driver was.
http://www.columbian.com/news/2013/feb/16/wrong-way-driver-dies-interstate-5-crash-near-wood/
5 in the morning, weekend, cheap crappy car with the rims that unintelligent people always put on their cars. Good riddance to another drunk driver!
@thunderchief Â
Thumbs down twit...You do a heck of a lot of "Assuming".
Â
@thunderchief Your eloquent post highlights what an authority you are on the intelligence of strangers. I think if you ever make it out of your mother's basement, you should observe people out in the real world. You may find that many kinds of people purchase many kinds of cars, for many different reasons. For all you know, this driver was a doctoral candidate who was broke and bought a used Civic with crappy wheels because that was what he could afford. You're an idiot, and although the circumstances of the crash certainly do *imply* impairment on his part, you don't know for sure what was going on. Regardless of his possible impairment, he does have family members who are devastated right now. I hope you never lose a loved one under these circumstances and have to read cruel and insensitive comments like the one you've made here.
@BG1980 @thunderchief I agree. Many of us buy used vehicles that may have features on them we wouldn't put on ourselves, such as rims like this car has. The car we bought late last year has something similar on it and we've never replaced them since I've had much more important things to spend my money on than replacing rims that may be stupid looking but work fine.
@thunderchief Really? That's great you can tell how smart someone is according to the wheels they have. (good talent) They didn't say he was drunk, but he probably was, but he still has family and friends. That being said I hope the guy in the big ford is going to be okay.
How is the world does this happen? Were they texting or too fixated on their google maps?Â
@Quaoptician Usually these kinds of wrong way accidents are either caused by driver fatigue or some kind of impairment (such as alcohol, prescription drugs, illegal drugs).
same here
Not enough information in the report to attribute the cause of the crash to any personal shortcomings. Don't jump to conclusions.
@jpk It looks like a ghetto-banger car, with those wheels and all, which limits my sympathy. It was pure luck that only the Honda driver was killed.
@W YÂ your ignorance is epic
@Common Sence @W Y What is "Sence"?
Well, at least the idiot didn't take anyone else with him......
I wish the driver of the pick up a speedy recovery
@kramrThe KGW story said the driver has a broken back. I hope that the injuries do heal and that it doesn't cause issues with pain, walking, etc.
There is the right way, and then there is the wrong way, take yer pick!
At least it was the idiot that died this time. Hopefully the other injured party makes a full and speedy recovery. Unfortunately, not enough of these idiots cull themselves from our society.
@I812Â He wasnt an idiot!!!
@portlandgirl @I812 He had to be an idiot. Only an idiot would drive the wrong way on a freeway. Now he is not only an idiot but he is brain-dead.
@I812Â I agree with you.