By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The Lewis County Coroner’s Office says Morris L. Johanson, 70, died from blunt trauma to the chest after he wrecked his 2014 Chevrolet Camaro off an Onalaska Road on Tuesday morning.
Johanson’s car was discovered by a passing county worker, over an embankment at the west end of Burchett Road just before 8 o’clock that morning. Its flashers were turned on.
The Onalaska man was conscious when responders arrived and indicated he thought it happened about 6:30 a.m., according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
Johanson passed away as firefighters and aid prepared for him to be airlifted, Chief Deputy Dusty Breen said.
A deputy determined the car had been westbound on Burchett Road and crossed Leonard Road at the T-intersection without stopping at the stop sign, according to Breen.
Breen said Johanson had indicated that’s what occurred, and that he wasn’t paying attention. The car was described as totaled.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
moderator: please change Sept 24 to Oct. 9. Merle corrected my date.
Moe was a special part of our lives. On Sept. 24, I think, we stood outside of his truck with two goofy large pink candles lit and the two of us sang him Happy Birthday. He was hauling the differential and wheels of some kind of big truck (as usual). We love you, Moe.
This was my dad and I want to sincerely thank all of you who tried everything you could to help him. I am still in the process of notifying folks, but wanted you to know he was a double Purple Heart in Vietnam and will be buried next spring at Arlington National Cemetery where he will receive a well-deserved full military service. At his request, there will not be a local service.
If you want service information, please contact the news reporter for this article as they should have access to my email address. Also, if someone knows the names of the workers who found him, I’d like that information as well please. I’m requesting the accident report, but that can take some time to receive.
Again, thank you so very much for doing everything you possibly could and know that he is now at peace in heaven, no longer suffering from all of his ailments.
Respectfully,
Cherie Johanson
I hope the first responders are doing okay too. They had a conscious patient and spent time with him while waiting for the helicopter before he succumbed to his injuries. That is a tough thing for them to handle more so than finding a person already dead from the wreck.
If that rail had been fixed..that was hit over 30 days ago by a DUI maybe this would not have been the out come… so sas.