Pickup-trailer flip on Paulina Hwy.; 6 not seriously hurt

A Troutdale family of six escaped serious injury Friday night when their pickup-trailer combination flipped onto its top on Southeast Paulina Highway in Crook County, sheriff’s deputies said. They said driver fatigue is believed to be a factor in the crash.

Deputies were dispatched shortly before 9 p.m. to the rollover crash at milepost 46 on the highway, said sheriff’s Sgt. Ryan Seaney. Arriving deputies found a Ford crew cab truck and attached enclosed trailer (a “toy hauler” style) overturned and blocking two-thirds of the highway.

An investigation determined that the truck driven by Jasper Phillips, 44, was heading east on the highway when the truck-trailer combination gradually crossed the highway and made contact with the guardrail on the westbound shoulder, Seaney said.

The truck-trailer continued along the guardrail and at the end of the guardrail, the trailer began to slide farther off the road. Phillips was able to pull the trailer out of the ditch, but the the truck and trailer crossed the highway and headed into the ditch on the eastbound side of the road.

The fishtailing action caused the truck and trailer to overturn and come to rest on their roofs, still attached to each other, the sergeant said.

Phillips, his wife and four children were in the truck, all wearing seat belts, and escaped with minor cuts and bruises, Seaney said.

While driver fatigue is believed to be a contributing factor in the crash, no enforcement action was taken. Deputies said Phillips reported the truck was pulling to the left when the crash occurred.

The highway was restricted to less than one full lane for just over three hours, in part because officials could not get the proper tow equipment to the remote area, Seaney said.

Upon learning of that, an area rancher, Phil Hartzell, contacted deputies on the scene and volunteered to use a piece of heavy equipment to quickly get the truck and trailer back onto their wheels, then move them from the highway to an adjacent field.

Seaney said the sheriff’s office wanted to publicly thank Hartzell for making it possible to reopen the Paulina Highway to traffic.