MILLCREEK, UTAH – November 13 (Gephardt Daily) ─ A 16-year-old driver escaped injury Friday morning after his car veered off Highland Drive and knocked over a power pole, causing live wires to set his car on fire.
The teenager’s car continued a few feet past the pole and struck a vehicle outside the Holladay Park Condominiums, according to Unified Police Department Det. Ken Hansen. The woman inside, in her late 60s, scraped her leg exiting her car, but no serious injuries were reported.
“He is in good condition,” Hansen said of the teen driver. “When he hit the power pole, it brought the power lines down on top of his vehicle, and it started his car on fire…He got out of the car and was smart enough not to touch it. The remarkable thing here is that he was able to get out of the car without getting burned or electrocuted.”
The accident happened at 10:25 a.m. near 4630 South Highland Drive. No charges were immediately filed.
“It’s a fairly straight road, and there’s no intersection here,” Hansen said, while being interviewed at the site by Gephardt Daily. “Why did a 16-year-old lose control and hit a power line? Some of the answers might be obvious to us all because of recent events with distracted driving. So that’s one thing we will be looking at.”
Rocky Mountain Power spokesman Paul Murphy said 36 customers lost power, and repairs were expected to be finished at about rush hour, about eight hours after the accident.
