Rear-ender slows traffic on bridge

A collision on the 10th Street bridge put a Yuba City man in the hospital Friday afternoon and slowed eastbound traffic for hours.

At about 2:30 p.m., a Ford Triton pickup driven by Donald Muller slammed into the back of a gravel-hauling tractor-trailer rig driven by Joseph Odor, said Marysville Traffic Officer Dennis Hauck.

Muller told investigators that Odor stopped quickly. Muller, 65, said he tried to brake, to no avail.

Traffic was slowed long after Muller was freed from his wrecked truck. Eastbound traffic into Marysville was constricted on the bridge for more than three hours as officers cleared debris and the two vehicles.

Richard Seghieri, a private contractor who is investigating the collision for the Marysville Police

Department, said it took a long time to clear the scene because the collision happened on a bridge. The vehicles could not easily be moved.

Traffic was diverted to the Fifth Street bridge, according to police.

Seghieri said neither drugs nor alcohol appear to have been a factor in the accident.

Marysville police did not know Muller's condition when he was driven by ambulance from the scene. Seghieri said he was likely taken to a Sacramento hospital, but he did not know which one.

Odor, 50, was not injured.

The heavily traveled 10th Street bridge spans the Feather River between Yuba City on the west and Marysville on the east. It has four lanes, with a center divider.

Appeal-Democrat reporter Eve Hightower can be reached at 749-4724. You may e-mail her at ehightower@appeal-democrat.com.