Two troopers injured in collision while responding to crash on I-5 South in Lakewood

Troopers injured in crash on I-5

One trooper collided into another while both were responding to a separate crash.

LAKEWOOD, Wash. - Two Washington State Patrol troopers were injured in a collision with each other early Thursday morning while responding to a separate crash on I-5 South in Lakewood.

Trooper Ryan Burke says it happened about 2:30 a.m. when troopers responded to a driver who fell asleep at the wheel and struck a barrier on the interstate just north of Berkeley Street.

The first trooper arrived on scene to make contact with the driver who fell asleep. A second trooper pulled up shortly after, striking the first trooper's patrol unit and causing a chain reaction crash into the vehicle of the driver who fell asleep.

Both troopers were taken to St. Clare Hospital in Lakewood with non-life threatening injuries and have since been released.

The driver who fell asleep was not injured.

WSP says the troopers involved are relatively new to the force. Inexperience played a role in the crash, Trooper Burke said.

"We are all human beings out here and sometimes it catches up to us as well," Burke said.

The crash caused traffic backups for miles during the Thursday morning commute.