Man dies after vehicle rolls 25 times down embankment
CARBONADO, Wash. - A 23-year-old Auburn man has died after a truck went over an embankment and rolled 25 times down a steep hill near Mount Rainier National Park in rural Pierce County, officials said.
The accident happened at about 1 a.m. Thursday at the Evans Creek off-road vehicle park, but officials did not learn about it until several hours later when a second man in the truck was able to free himself, walk into town and notify authorities.
The second man, a 21-year-old, told responders that he and his friend, the 23-year-old Auburn man, had been driving around the Evans Creek park after dark when a deer jumped in front of their truck. The truck then went off the road and down the steep embankment, rolling over about 25 times.
The 21-year-old told authorities that when the truck finally came to rest, his friend was unconscious, unresponsive and gasping for air.
The 21-year-old said he was able to get out of the vehicle, but lost his shoes in the process. He then walked barefoot for 15 miles until reaching the town of Carbonado, where he told a fire department crew about the crash.
The fire department notified East Pierce Fire & Rescue, which immediately dispatched a crew to the crash scene. They were guided there by the 21-year-old man, who by then was likely suffering from hypothermia, officials said.
But when the search-and-rescue crew arrived at the crash site, the 23-year-old Auburn man was no longer inside the truck.
At first rescuers were hopeful that he had regained consciousness and left to get help. But searchers then found a trail of blood leading from the truck to a river some distance away, where the 23-year-old was found dead.
The Pierce County medical examiner has requested that responders not disturb the body until investigators arrive on scene - meaning that the body may not be recovered until Friday.
The name of the victim was not immediately released.
The accident happened at about 1 a.m. Thursday at the Evans Creek off-road vehicle park, but officials did not learn about it until several hours later when a second man in the truck was able to free himself, walk into town and notify authorities.
The second man, a 21-year-old, told responders that he and his friend, the 23-year-old Auburn man, had been driving around the Evans Creek park after dark when a deer jumped in front of their truck. The truck then went off the road and down the steep embankment, rolling over about 25 times.
The 21-year-old told authorities that when the truck finally came to rest, his friend was unconscious, unresponsive and gasping for air.
The 21-year-old said he was able to get out of the vehicle, but lost his shoes in the process. He then walked barefoot for 15 miles until reaching the town of Carbonado, where he told a fire department crew about the crash.
The fire department notified East Pierce Fire & Rescue, which immediately dispatched a crew to the crash scene. They were guided there by the 21-year-old man, who by then was likely suffering from hypothermia, officials said.
But when the search-and-rescue crew arrived at the crash site, the 23-year-old Auburn man was no longer inside the truck.
At first rescuers were hopeful that he had regained consciousness and left to get help. But searchers then found a trail of blood leading from the truck to a river some distance away, where the 23-year-old was found dead.
The Pierce County medical examiner has requested that responders not disturb the body until investigators arrive on scene - meaning that the body may not be recovered until Friday.
The name of the victim was not immediately released.
Wow you people really have nothing better to do than to sit around and make the most stupid comments I have ever read on these news stories. What a sad story and I go to comments to see if someone mentioned the names of the guys and I see all this crap. Get a life people!
I spend at least 2 days a week in that area, and it can be pretty harsh on the inexperienced, and as wet as it's been, all it takes is speed, inexperience, and/or alchohol, and a tragic accident can happen, I've seen this alot. God Bless every one, especially the First Responders.
I was just out there last weekend. Â Yeah, there are a lot of deer jumping about. But very strange....all the way to Carbonado?! Really?! Why? There are many houses along the way, and I am sure they have phones. Not to mention the NPS call boxes at the gate. Maybe he was in a complete daze or shock.
 @RainyHere huh?  I go there alot never seen a call box
 @RainyHere What call boxes would those be?
soo please please don't sit here and make stuff more confusing and hard for people who just want to understand what happened. we are all grown. please give the respect you would want if you have lost a loved one. thank you
funny thing is you all don't know this guy like me. you sit here and talk about what happened and how it happened. why does it matter how it happened cause now my friend and someone i knew as my other brother is gone. you guys are all just rude and shouldnt be sitting here talking down about what going on. put his family and him in your prayers please.
the story sounds funny to me... loses his shoes and walks 15 miles in the snow in the mountains at night (did he even have a compass? a light? somehow knows exactly where the fire station is...)
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after he gets there they go back to the truck when his friend was apparently just left strapped in gasping for breath and then they find him a couple hundred feet away by the river... it just doesnt sound right.
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has anyone ever tried to walk 100 feet in the mountains with no shoes in the dark? how about 80,000ft? this guys feet better be cut up and bleeding to all hell!
 @DylanJ Let me stop you before you make yourself sound even more uneducated than you are.  It was not snowing last night, nor was there any snow on the ground.  These guys frequented Evans Creek, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to get in and out of there.  All he had to do was walk up that hill, put his left side to the cliff that they fell off of, and walk straight down the road that they came up.  Fifteen miles later, you find yourself in Carbonado.  If you need a compass to get out of Evans Creek, you probably should put a helmet on and stay in your house. Â
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Why is it so difficult to comprehend that the 23 year old climbed out of the truck, and tried to make his way down the hill for safety? Â The guy that walked for help was likely gone for close to 3 hours. Â When the 23 year old woke up, he was very most likely disoriented more than you could ever imagine. Â He probably found his way out of the truck, not knowing where his friend went, and tried to figure out where he was, before his body couldn't take any more and gave up. Â
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You do realize that the elevation of Evans Creek is only about 2,000-4000 feet, right? Â I'm sure his feet are nice and cut up, and he IS in the hospital, but expecting to make a full recovery. Â
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Anyway, next time you try to post your conspiracy theory crap on here, be sure you know what you're talking about. Â Thanks.
Damn, thats sad.
It sounds like he had broken ribs and a punctured lung, possibly with a open chest wound by the sound of him gasping for air. Im not a medical professional, however I had a similar injury a year ago and remember how it felt.
Oh how sad - I read this earlier when there were fewer details and was hoping this wouldn't be the result. Â The 21-yr old who walked 15 miles barefoot to attempt to save his friend is quite amazing - hope he recovers quickly. Â
That's not an "off-road" vehicle. Â It's clearly a near-factory-stock on-road vehicle of some type. Â Just because you're not on-pavement doesn't mean you're off-road.
@Dean Fuller yeah it looks like an FJ
@Dean Fuller Apparently they were a lot farther off-road than they wanted to be. And just because the vehicle is not designed to go "off-road" certainly doesn't stop many people. I mean, really, it's a truck so it should go anywhere, right?
 @Dean Fuller Well you watch these truck commercials on TV and they tell you their products will climb Mt Everest. I guess some people believe that
How sad. I'm amazed at this young man's tenacity to locate help after surviving such an ordeal, and very sorry for the loss of his friend. Â
RIP to the young man who passed away. The guy that hiked to Carbonado is a pretty tough guy considering he tumbled down an embankment 25 times in a vehicle and had to hike throughout the night. Hope he makes a full recovery.
It's amazing that even one of them survived that kind of accident. I hope he has a speedy recovery.
I used to go up to Evan's Creek all the time to go wheeling. It can be a very dangerous place for the inexperienced. Hopefully the young man is found ok.
Speculation.... Alcohol related.... the ages of the individuals and time of crash would seem so... who knows?
 @Funky-Munky My wife and I around that age used to go offroading or hiking into the backcountry around that time of night, completely sober no less.  While things can be a little bit more challenging and you have to know where you are (and what you are doing), outdoor recreation does not need to be a daylight only activity.
@Funky-Munky Or it's entirely possible that the were smoking marijuana....Purely speculation of course.
 @Surveyor1 Doubt it was just marijuana because there's usually something else in addition.... point taken.
 @Funky-Munky It sounds like they were night wheeling which is very fun but also very dangerous as it's harder to see. There was a similar accident in Liberty, Wa. years ago where a couple young guys in a jeep drove off a 200 foot cliff at night, amazingly the passenger survive but the driver didn't, I've seen the cliff(there's a memorial there) and it's on the other side of a hill that even in the day is hard to see. They now have big downed trees blocking it to prevent someone from the same fate.
 @ValleyBronco   about 600 feet to be exact. Mount Chrystal and there were 3 in a jeep cherokee and one hiked all the way out.  They were preforming a u turn and went over. 2 died.Â
KOMO updates the story with photos of rescue on scene and leaves the text "East Pierce Fire & Rescue personnel immediately left enroute to the crash scene, but they have not yet arrived" in the story!
 @DarkParty They updated - unfortunately the one guy did pass away.  Bummer.
 @DarkParty Maybe KOMO should be bringing medical aid too since they were the "first responder" - lol!
Another news site is reporting 23 times, someone needs to get to the bottom of this.
@quarwhat Does it really matter???
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@Quarwhar I think its stupid that they are even bothering to try and tabulate this.
@Quarwhar Who in the heck counted them anyway?
That area is pretty remote all right. No need to hike all the way to Carbonado though. There are a few homes along the way that would've had a phone or at least a vehicle. I bet he was a bit addled after being thrown around like that.
I am just curious how exactly they managed to count exactly 25 times....I would have lost count somewhere after 6 probably
"The 21-year-old then hiked all night until he came into Carbonado and called 911." Holy crap! That is one insanely tough dude. I really hope his friend is all right.
i just got one question...how the hell do the know it rolled 25 times?! I know the poor soul inside wasn't counting, so who was...squirrels? And what, they reported their count to the paramedics? Not trying to make light of the situation by any means, hope the individual recovers and all, but just wondering...
 @bartle_doo  Does it really matter???
 @bartle_doo I am sure the survivor put out his best estimate. Been in that area some very steep hills.
Sounds horrific and that they're both lucky to be alive. Â But how do they know it was 25 rotations? Â Points of impact or something? Â Hope they'll both be OK.
 @Doxie How do you know they are both alive?
 @DarkParty It says one got out and hiked for help and the other was unconscious/unresponsive/still in vehicle.  I suppose he could have died but the story's not been updated.