A 15-year-old male passenger was hospitalized and several hundred people were left without power following a single vehicle crash on Rt. 218 near Cookson Lane in Whitefield May 20.
According to Lt. Rand Maker with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, the GMC SUV was southbound on Rt. 218 when the driver went off the road and hit a utility pole around 5:45 p.m. The crash split the pole into two parts before the SUV careened into a rock wall and a stand of trees, Maker said.
LCSO deputies, Whitefield Fire and Rescue and Jefferson Fire and Rescue units responded to the scene. Jefferson Fire used the Jaws of Life, to extract the boy from the vehicle. It took about 20 minutes to cut the boy free, said Jefferson Fire Chief Walter Morris.
“[Paramedics] had an IV in him and had him pretty well sedated before we had him out of the vehicle,” Morris said. “Everyone responded quickly, worked fast and did a great job.”
The boy was transported by ambulance to Peaslee’s Quick Stop, where he was met by a helicopter and brought to the hospital, Morris said.
The boy is reported to have a broken leg but nothing life threatening, and underwent surgery over the weekend, Maker said on May 25.
The crash knocked out power to about 750 people in Whitefield and Jefferson for about four hours, said Lincoln County Emergency Management Agency Director Tim Pellerin.
The boy’s sister, 21-year-old Stephanie King from Whitefield, was driving the vehicle, and suffered only a minor hand injury, Maker said.
The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the accident, including a routine blood test for drugs and alcohol.
“There’s nothing to tell me that this is alcohol related at this time,” Maker said on May 25.
However, nothing is conclusive until the results of the blood test return from the lab, Maker said.
