Crash into Arlington barn attributed to broken steering wheel
The 59-year-old man was travelling along SR 530 near mile post 32 just before 12:30 when the steering wheel came off the column of his 1978 Buick, said Trooper Keith Leary with the Washington State Patrol. The car left the road, went down an embankment, up the other side, and narrowly missing a power pole and several small barns with baby cows inside before crashing into a larger barn.
It took rescuers over half an hour to free the driver, and they say miraculously, he only suffered minor neck pain.
Leary says the damage was devastating to the farm's owner as the car destroyed their refrigeration and milking area, and 140 cows needed to be milked at 2:30. She told Leary if there was one place for the car not to hit, that was the place.
The crash also knocked down electrical wires in the barn. Power crews were on the scene to make sure the lines were safe before the car could be towed out.
