A late-night pickup crash on a rural stretch of Orville Road East outside Graham left a 55-year-old driver dead and a 41-year-old passenger with serious injuries Saturday, turning a quiet East Pierce County roadway into an active crash scene that stretched into the night. The truck left the roadway and landed in a ditch near Griggs Road East, and a puppy riding in the vehicle was rushed by a bystander to an emergency veterinary hospital while deputies and medics worked the scene.
According to The News Tribune, which cited the Pierce County Sheriff's Office, the wreck happened at about 9 p.m. Saturday. Investigators reported that neither the driver nor the passenger was wearing a seat belt. The sheriff's office released the initial details, and the paper reported it had no immediate update on the passenger's or the puppy's condition as of Tuesday. The account was based on information deputies provided at the scene.
Where it happened
Orville Road East is a two-lane county route running through rural east Pierce County. It has seen intermittent repairs and closures this year, according to Pierce County Planning and Public Works. A WSDOT pre-design study for SR 162 and the Orville Road corridor notes posted speeds around 45 mph on nearby stretches, conditions that can increase the severity of single-vehicle run-offs. County crews have previously shut down portions of Orville Road for slide cleanup and guardrail work, underscoring that it is a road that regularly needs attention.
Seat belts and safety
State safety data underline how much difference seat belts can make when something goes wrong. The Washington Traffic Safety Commission's 2024 seat-belt survey shows statewide belt use in the mid-90s, but it also reports that unrestrained fatalities and serious injuries have risen in recent years, according to the Washington Traffic Safety Commission. National research from the NHTSA similarly finds that unbelted occupants face a dramatically higher risk of death in a crash. Those patterns line up with what the sheriff's office noted at the scene: neither person in the pickup was using a seat belt.
Investigation
The Pierce County Sheriff's Office provided the initial report and said investigators are working to determine why the pickup left the roadway, according to The News Tribune. Authorities have not released the names of the people involved. Anyone with information about the crash is asked to contact the Pierce County Sheriff's Office.
