North Spokane crash levels sign, electric pole

A driver in north Spokane on Saturday afternoon hit a sign, toppled an electric pole – which fell on her car – and came to a stop a half a block away only after leveling the street sign at Maxwell Avenue and Monroe Street.

Witnesses said the southbound driver quickly got out of her Ford Fusion and was able to walk around, but was mostly incoherent. Two elementary school-age children riding in the back seat were shaken but uninjured.

“The driver was in and out of it,” said Justin Vaughn, a barber at Quick’s Barber Shop, who heard a crash about 3:40 p.m. and looked out the window in time to see the electric pole fall onto the car and then Monroe Street. “She was like a zombie.”

The electric pole shattered the car’s back window. Paramedics talked to the family inside Quick’s and the driver was taken by ambulance to a hospital, witnesses said. The children left in a taxi.

Witnesses said one of the children was holding what appeared to be a gas can when the child exited the car.

Tim Erickson was driving his Jeep Wrangler in front of the car when the pole fell. The wire hit and broke his windshield.

Police at the scene declined to comment on the incident.

Monroe Street was closed while the downed pole was removed.

Megan Aguilar, who witnessed the crash, helped calm the children by letting them pet her bearded dragon, Juno.

“The kids really liked her,” Aguilar said. “As soon as they saw her, they calmed down.”