Pasco potato hauler injured in Idaho crash

HAZELTON, Idaho — A Pasco man was hospitalized Thursday, June 17, after a crash involving three eastbound tractor-trailers near Milepost 187 of Interstate 84.

Juan Vela, 41, of Pasco, was transported to a Twin Falls, Idaho, hospital for injuries he sustained in the 1:15 p.m. crash, the Idaho State Police reported.

Vela was driving the third of three trucks heading in to a construction zone, the crash report said. Ahead of him, Faizan Ahmad, 27 of Sacramento, Calif, and Eric Whitfield, 41, of Laramie, Wyo., were slowing their trucks.

At the time, Vela was transporting a load of potatoes with his 2009 Peterbilt tractor-trailer, the report said. He rear-ended Whitfield, who was driving a 2020 Freightliner with a flatbed trailer carrying lumber.

Whitfield's truck was pushed into Ahmad's truck, a 2016 Kenworth, the report said.

The crash prompted the closure of eastbound lanes for about four hours, the report said.