Driver injured when hits truck hits another truck

CONNELL — A disabled tractor-trailer was struck by another vehicle on northbound U.S. Highway 395 on Tuesday evening, April 5, resulting in one driver being transported to a hospital.

Laurence W. Rials, 50, of Kennewick, was taken to a Pasco hospital, the Washington State Patrol reported.

Rials was the driver of a 2022 Freightliner and 2013 Hyundai trailer when he stuck a disabled 2000 Freightliner with a 1957 tanker and a 1987 potato bed in the right lane of the highway, the patrol reported.

The disabled truck, which was blocking the lane, had hazard placards out, the patrol reported, noting Rials' truck and trailer were destroyed.

Trailers linked to the disabled truck were also destroyed, the patrol reported.

The cause of the crash was "inattention" and Rials was cited for second-degree negligent driving, the patrol reported.