MANCHESTER – Sporadic power outages left some residents of Manchester in the dark yesterday afternoon after a pickup truck downed a utility pole on Commonwealth Blvd.
Manchester Police arrived at the scene of the accident at 2:45 p.m. on Tuesday, September 19 to find a messy scene involving a 2016 Ford F-150 pickup truck, a 2014 Chevy Malibu and a downed utility pole and wires.
23-year-old Kim M. Mork II of Manchester was driving the pickup truck westbound on Commonwealth Blvd. when it drove off the roadway, struck the utility pole and caused the wires to cascade into the street below. While the utility pole severed and fell, it toppled onto the Chevy Malibu, which was being driven on the opposite side of the roadway by 84-year-old Helen Holland of Toms River.
Although both drivers were wearing their seatbelts at the time of the accident and neither suffered any injuries, the force of the utility pole falling caused damage to Holland’s windshield and roof. Two nearby utility poles were also left damaged.
Commonwealth Blvd. was closed in both directions while the three damaged utility poles were replaced and wires were repaired. Residents in the surrounding areas were advised that they may experience additional power outages while Jersey Central Power & Light worked to make the needed repairs.
Manchester and Ridgeway Fire Departments assisted at the scene. Corporal Douglas Higgins of the department’s Patrol Bureau is investigating the crash.
