By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
A woman escaped serious injury last Thursday, September 9, after her Chevy Tahoe slammed into an East Horner Street utility pole with enough force to cause a two-foot piece of the pole to become lodged in her vehicle’s grill.
The single-vehicle mishap occurred shortly after 7:30 a.m. City firefighters and police officers finally cleared the scene around 8:30.
The woman driver left the damaged vehicle and was limping along Horner when emergency personnel arrived.
Brittany Cowan, who lives along the residential street, was taking her trash out when the Tahoe came by at a “pretty high” rate of speed — apparently a common occurrence on East Horner.
“People are always flying through here, and she was going pretty fast,” Cowan said. “She was leaned back in the seat, and it looked like she hit the gas right before she hit the pole. It was like it all happened in slow motion.”
The driver, who refused medical treatment, told rescue personnel she was only traveling at “about 30 mph” when she hit the pole, which was sheared off at the ground and knocked about 12 feet from its original location.
Fire Chief Ron Peebles has been with the department more than 20 years. He said he doesn’t recall ever having seen a driver hit a utility pole hard enough to have such a large chunk of it break off and lodge in the vehicle.
“It might have happened, but I sure don’t remember it,” he said.