WHATCOM COUNTY, Wash. -- A Lynden man is dead and a Blaine man hospitalized in an early morning crash yesterday north of Nooksack.

State Patrol Trooper Keith Leary reports 23-year-old Oracio Padilla died on East Badger Road just east of Nooksack Valley High School when a pickup driven by 19-year-old Tanner Tjoelker rear-ended his pickup.

Tjoelker was taken to Peacehealth St. Joseph Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries.

Troopers say Padilla was slowing to turn left into the dairy farm where he worked, and Tjoelker was also on his way to work.

They say speed and no lights on Padilla’s vehicle may have contributed to the crash.