Second update (April 21): Ithaca Police have released new details of yesterday’s East State Street crash, showing eery similarities as the 2015 Simeon’s crash that killed one person on the Commons.
Police said the crash happened because a truck’s brakes failed on the way down East State Street, heading toward the Commons.
“According to the driver of the truck, his brakes failed coming down East State Street,” read a statement from police. “In order to avoid hurting anyone down the hill, he attempted to stop his vehicle by running into the NYSEG pole.”
The man was indeed successful in stopping his vehicle with the pole. While the results of the crash were thankfully not the same, the circumstances do bring to mind the 2015 crash at Simeon’s restaurant. In that incident, a large tractor trailer heading down East State Street experienced a brake failure and crashed into Simeon’s, killing Amanda Bush, a pregnant mother and worker at the restaurant, and destroying the restaurant. The driver later received four tickets for the crash.
UPDATE: As of 7:45 p.m., the road has reopened.
Original story:
ITHACA, N.Y.—A truck crashed into a utility pole in the 400 block of East State Street on Wednesday afternoon. The street is still closed as a result, and has been at least since an alert was issued at 4:30 p.m.
Ithaca Fire Department spokesperson James Wheal confirmed that there were no reported injuries. He added that NYSEG has been on the scene to repair the pole, though it is unclear if any residences or businesses had their power service impacted by the crash.
Wheal also said the road is still closed to traffic, as of 6 p.m., and large semi-trucks were seen having to turn around during rush hour.
No details of the circumstances of the crash were released yet, though they often are through the Ithaca Fire Department Facebook page. This story will be updated when those details become available.