Franklin Connection - Serving Franklin County, WA

CONNELL — An Othello motorist was hospitalized Monday following a two-vehicle crash on state Highway 260 a mile west of town.

Nicholas R. Johnson, 41, of Othello, was taken to a Richland hospital after the 6:39 p.m. crash, the Washington State Patrol reported. He was cited for following too close.

Johnson was westbound in a 2013 Ford F150 pickup when he rear-ended a tractor-trailer on the highway, the patrol reported.

The driver of the 2014 Kenworth construction truck, Victor F. Rangel Rivero, 36, of Ciudad Cuauhtemoc, Mexico, was not injured, the patrol said.

Neither alcohol nor drugs was a factor in the crash, the patrol reported, adding both drivers were wearing seatbelts.