Driver inattention suspected in crash that shut down part of Iowa Street for two hours

Westar and WOW personnel survey the damage on Iowa Street just north of 27th Street, where a vehicle crashed through a utility pole, snapping it in half and causing loss of power on sections of the east side of Iowa Street Friday afternoon.

Several blocks of one of Lawrence’s main thoroughfares were shut down Friday after a car crashed into a power pole.

Around 1 p.m. an SUV, northbound on Iowa Street, hit a pole on the east side of the road, said Lawrence Police Sgt. Trent McKinley.

The pole snapped in half, dropping power lines around the vehicle and onto the ground.

“The driver had to sit in his car because the wires came down on top of his car,” McKinley said. “We had to stand back at a distance and encourage him to stay put because he could get electrocuted.”

Power lines also fell onto a nearby wooden fence, which caught fire, McKinley said. A small patch of grass at the base of a second power pole also briefly sparked.

Both small fires were quickly extinguished, McKinley said.

Once Westar Energy crews arrived on scene and turned off the power, the driver, who was the only person inside the vehicle, was able to exit the SUV, McKinley said. The man was not injured in the crash.

Police conducted a field sobriety test on the driver at the scene, but did not find any signs of impairment, McKinley said.

“Instead, at this point we believe the collision was a result of the driver’s inattention,” he said.

Iowa Street was closed in both directions from 25th to 27th streets for almost two hours after the crash. All traffic but one northbound lane reopened shortly before 3 p.m.

The City of Lawrence said in a news release that repairs may require intermittent lane closures over the next few days.

An online Westar Energy outage map showed power was restored to the area by at least 4:45 p.m.

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