WILSON, Wyo. — In the early hours of Wednesday morning, the driver of a Chevy pickup truck hit a power pole on the Village Road, knocking out power for 600 people.
Wyoming Highway Patrol (WHP) received a call about the crash on WY390 around 4 a.m. The incident occurred near milepost one, just north of Nethercott Lane. WHP Public Information Officer Arron Healy told Buckrail that evidence at the scene shows the truck started to enter a turn and failed to maintain lanes.
“It crossed the center lane, went off the road, crossed the bike path before striking a power pole, shearing the pole off at its base,” Healy said in an email. “The pickup continued another 50 yards before striking a tree, knocking the tree over before continuing, striking a parked car, causing that parked car to hit another parked car, then proceeded further hitting a van parked in the driveway before coming to rest on a wood pile.”
By the time troopers arrived on scene, one of the occupants of the truck had already been taken to the hospital. Interviews with witnesses at the scene revealed that the transported person was the driver, and that another male passenger had fled the scene. WHP is asking the public for information regarding the incident. Anyone with video or a description of a male in the area around 4 a.m. on Aug. 5 is asked to call WHP Dispatch at (307) 777-4321, using reference No. CFS2657.
When the driver was released from the hospital, he attempted to board a flight at Jackson Hole Airport, Healy said. Troopers caught up with the suspect and took him into custody. He was booked into Teton County Detention Center and charged with driving without a license, speeding, failure to maintain lane and careless driving.
The damage to the power pole knocked out power for 600 residents in the Village Road area. Riada Lane and the bike path from Wild Rose Lane to Nethercott Lane were closed due to the incident, and utility crews were on the scene working to reopen the area and restore power, according to a 6 a.m. message from Teton_WY Alerts.
According to a post on Facebook by Lower Valley Energy (LVE), the work crews were able to reroute power to a majority of those in the outage. While the power company replaced the pole and restored electricity, only 17 residents were without power. LVE initially expected the restoration to take eight hours, but crews completed it in less than five hours, finishing by 11:40 a.m.
