Semi hits WA apple truck, spilling fruit the length of 3 football fields

A Kennewick semi driver was believed to be distracted when he crashed into a trailer full of apples near the Rock Island Dam.

Mark A. Kinney, 42, was heading west on Highway 28 in a semi truck and trailer about 2 p.m. Wednesday, the Washington State Patrol reported. He was approaching Rock Island on the rural two-lane highway in Douglas County when he crossed into the oncoming traffic.

Kinney’s semi collided with a trailer hauling apples, knocking the trailer and cab onto its side, Trooper Jeremy Weber told the Tri-City Herald. The collision spilled the cargo across the road.

Kinney’s semi was totaled and he was treated at a local hospital. The other driver, Dakota C. Scott, 33, of Warden, was not hurt.

The scene of the collision stretched for 300 yards and the road was shut down for eight hours while investigators worked, Weber said. The closure forced drivers to backtrack nearly 20 miles to Quincy.

Investigators are still trying to determine why Kinney became distracted.