BAKER CITY — A Fairview, Utah, man died early Friday morning when he went over a concrete guardrail and fell approximately 30 feet to the ground below the interstate near the Weatherby Rest Area south of Baker City.
The victim, Iven Woodell Cox, 64, was helping another truck driver trying to remove a set of dual wheels from the westbound lanes of Interstate 84. Cox was trying to avoid being struck by a third truck, a Federal Express truck that had flipped on its side on the interstate.
According to the Oregon State Police, at approximately 1:20 a.m. Friday a 2006 Sterling commercial truck towing three trailers was westbound on Interstate 84 near Milepost 335. The truck's driver, Larry James Phelps, 55, had to pull onto the freeway shoulder after noticing the right side dual wheels had broken loose from the last box trailer. The wheels came to rest in the left westbound lane
A second truck driver, Cox, saw the dual wheels in the roadway and pulled ahead of Phelps' vehicle, where he stopped and got out to help Phelps remove the wheels.
As Phelps and Cox were beginning to cross the westbound lanes to get over to where the wheels were, a westbound Federal Express truck with three trailers struck the wheels, causing the driver to lose control. The truck and trailers rolled onto their side and continued sliding westbound on the highway.
Phelps ran toward the center concrete barrier, and Cox ran toward the right westbound shoulder concrete barrier. Cox continued over the concrete barrier in an attempt to avoid the sliding truck and fell approximately 30 feet to the ground below. He landed on the shoulder of the road below the overpass. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
