Trailer detaches from tractor, crashes on I-5 near Woodland

The trailer portion of a commercial tractor-trailer became detached and crashed into a guardrail on Interstate 5 near Woodland Tuesday afternoon.

The tractor-trailer was traveling south on the interstate about 1:30 p.m. when its trailer came off, hit a guardrail and tipped over, nearly onto its side, just south of the North Fork Lewis River Bridge, according to Clark County Fire & Rescue Battalion Chief Tim Dawdy. Driver Theodore Creelman, 52, of Emmitt, Idaho, was coming from Chehalis, where the trailer was filled with dried goods, according to the Washington State Patrol.

Dawdy said that if the trailer had swung to the left instead of the right, it could have hit other vehicles. “This is a real freak accident,” he said. “It’s lucky nobody was killed … and it was noninjury, believe it or not.”

State Patrol cited Creelman for failing to secure the tractor’s load. Apparently, the trailer wasn’t properly latched, said Trooper Will Finn.

Traffic was slowed in part because of drivers’ looking at the crash, Finn said. Backups in the northbound lanes extended to La Center, he said.

A three-car noninjury collision occurred in the backup. The driver who caused that crash was cited for following too closely.