SEDRO-WOOLLEY — Richard G. Rector of Sequim died Tuesday when he was run over by the log truck he was operating east of Sedro-Woolley, the State Patrol said.

Rector, 56, got out of the truck before dawn to check on a possible brake problem when the fully loaded rig broke loose and rolled forward, dragging him underneath it, troopers said.

He died at the scene.

“We think he was messing with the brakes,” said Trooper Mark Francis, State Patrol spokesman.

The incident was reported at 5:26 a.m. on a steep logging road about 5 miles north of state Highway 20 in Skagit County.

After striking Rector, the 2007 Peterbilt tractor hauling a 1955 log utility trailer continued down a incline estimated to be between 7 percent and 9.5 percent before crashing alongside the logging road in the Cascade foothills.

The cab was separated from the trailer.

“It was pretty steep,” Francis said of the logging road, which eventually turns into Medford Road near the town of Hamilton.

No one else was injured.

Drugs or alcohol were not involved, troopers said.

Another trucker who had been communicating with Rector by CB radio was farther down the road when Rector said he was getting out of the cab to check on his brakes, which had been locking up.

“The next thing the coworker sees is the semi crash,” Francis said.

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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.