Crash drops power lines onto car, trapping kids
WOONSOCKET – A pickup truck’s collision with a utility pole in front of the Woonsocket Post Office on Social Street became a scary event for a family riding in a gray Toyota sedan behind the truck as live power lines were brought down on their vehicle, trapping them inside for a time Friday evening.
The dangerous scenario at 127 Social St., just before the traffic lights at Worrall Street, began at about 7:13 p.m. when the blue Ford pickup apparently veered off the road to the left, knocking down the pole carrying live power lines and other utilities, according to Woonsocket Police Sgt. Ronald Marcos.
The Toyota, occupied by a woman and two juveniles, was following a distance behind the Ford pick-up truck when it struck the pole, he noted.
“The truck hit the pole and the wires then fell on the car,” Marcos said.
“The wires were still charged and we kept the occupants in their car; we didn’t want them come out,” Marcos said.
The occupants of the car were trapped for about 20 minutes while National Grid shut the power down for about 10,000 customers in the nearby area and responded to the scene, according to Marcos.
“They responded out here pretty quickly,” Marcos said while noting the power was reported to have been cut at that point but police and rescue personnel were waiting for the actual lines draped over the passenger vehicle to be cut from a nearby pole before the children were evacuated.
The unidentified driver of the pickup truck was seen participating in a field sobriety test near the crash site and Marcos said a driving -under-the-influence investigation was underway.
The driver of the pick-up suffered a laceration to his forehead but refused treatment at the scene, Marcos said. No injuries were reported among the passengers in the Toyota sedan. After the crash, the pickup truck had been seen starting to smoke but firefighters were able to prevent a fire from occurring, Marcos noted.
An accident reconstruction unit was to investigate crash after the electrical wires were deemed safe. Traffic was detoured around the crash scene while police and fire personnel, and utility workers continued work at the scene at 8 p.m.