Island County’s Animal Control officer was injured Monday afternoon when her van was sandwiched between a dump truck and a car.

Trooper Josh Lancaster with the State Patrol reported that 40-year-old Rocky Reilly was driving south on Highway 20 in a Peterbilt dump truck with a trailer. The dump truck is owned by Interwest Construction out of Burlington.

The dump truck came up on a couple of vehicles that were stopped on the highway just east of Coupeville behind a truck that was turning left into the Island County transfer station. Lancaster said the vehicles were starting to accelerate from a standstill, so they didn’t have their brake lights on.

Reilly was unable to stop in time and rear-ended a 2002 Dodge Caravan driven by Carol Barnes, the longtime Animal Control officer on Whidbey Island. The force of the impact propelled the van forward into a 2011 Ford Fusion driven by 68-year-old John Gayer of Albuquerque.

The accident occurred at about 4:40 p.m.

Lancaster said Barnes was injured in the crash and was transported to Whidbey General Hospital for treatment. He said her injures didn’t appear to be life-threatening.

Gayer’s wife, who was asleep when the accident occurred, was transferred to the hospital as a precaution, the trooper said. Gayer and Reilly weren’t injured.

The pet cages in the back of Barnes’ van were torn apart, but Lancaster said there weren’t any animals in them at the time of the crash.

Lancaster said Reilly was cited for driving at a speed too fast to avoid a collision. An update on Barnes’ condition was not available Tuesday.