Truck driver dead after crash caused by ‘medical episode’
Accident cuts power to hundreds in Bethlehem Township area
One man is dead following a single-vehicle accident Tuesday that cut off power to hundreds of nearby homes in Bethlehem Township.
The crash occurred at approximately 11:47 a.m. on William Penn Highway at Sheridan Drive, near the border with Palmer Township, Bethlehem Township police said.
The driver of a pick-up truck was traveling eastbound on William Penn Highway when he crossed the opposite lane of travel and struck two utility poles, Bethlehem
Township Police Chief Gregory Gottschall said.
The driver was transported to St. Luke’s Hospital’s Anderson Campus in Bethlehem Township, where he died, Gottschall said.
The crash remains under investigation, but preliminarily, it appears that the driver suffered a “medical episode” while traveling, Gottschall said.
“He was driving eastbound toward Easton and had some kind of medical episode, it appears,” Gottschall said. “He drifted over into the opposite lane of travel. Fortunately, no traffic was coming the opposite way. And then he went off the shoulder and struck the utility pole.”
The driver struck two utility poles, shearing one before coming to rest at another, Gottschall said.
A male passenger was not injured, Gottschall injured.
The crash initially cut off power to more than a thousand homes as well as nearby traffic lights. However, power has since been restored to the traffic signals along with a majority of the nearby residences, according to PPL’s online outage map.
A portion of William Penn Highway remains closed at Sheridan Drive, Gottschall said.