QUILCENE — A logging accident that sent a large log tumbling down a mountain resulted in the death of a Port Angeles man Friday morning.
Joshua Patterson, 36, died at the scene on Spencer Creek Road on Mount Walker, off U.S. Highway 101 between Quilcene and Brinnon.,
Jefferson County sheriff’s officials said a loose log hit Patterson on the right side of the neck, killing him instantly.
“He probably didn’t know what hit him,” said Undersheriff Tim Perry.
Patterson was logging with two others Friday, hoisting bundles of cut trees 800 feet up the mountain side with cables strapped around the log bundles.
One logger was at the top where the logs were being transported, and Patterson and the other logger were at the bottom setting the cable choker around the logs.
A cable system began to carry one bundle up the mountainside when Patterson and his partner noticed a log coming loose from the choker, Perry said.
It broke free and careened down the mountain, where it struck Patterson.
Emergency response crews were dispatched at 7:23 a.m., but Patterson was pronounced dead at the scene.
He was taken to Kosec Funeral Home in Port Townsend, where an autopsy was scheduled.
Patterson’s girlfriend in Port Angeles was notified Friday, Perry said.