News brief: Couple escaped rollover wreck on I-5 at Napavine with minor injuries

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Authorities said an oscillating and whipping trailer behind a sport utility vehicle driven by a Canadian couple on a camping trip caused the wreck yesterday on Interstate 5 at Napavine.

Firefighters and troopers called about 10:30 a.m. found the vehicle and trailer flipped over the center concrete barrier near the Rush Road interchange. Lewis County Fire District 5 had to break a window to extinguish a small fire inside the 1993 travel trailer.

Angela D. Neilson and Calvin R. Mojak, both of Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, suffered only minor injuries.

District 5 Firefighter Brad Bozarth attributed that in part to front and side air bags in the 2003 Ford Explorer.

“For a bad situation, it turned out alright,” Bozarth said this morning.

Washington State Patrol public information officer Trooper Steve Schatzel said its something that can happen especially when traveling down hill.

“Basically the trailer starts trying to pass the car and once it gets far enough out, it actually pulls the car onto its side,” Schatzel said.

Most older trailers don’t have anti-sway brakes which can prevent that, he said.

Schatzel said he didn’t know which direction the pair were initially traveling. Bozarth said he thought they were southbound.

For yesterday’s news brief and photograph, either scroll down or click here.

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