BOOM BOOM BOOM out goes the lights

[Detector]

Anyone else find themselves in the dark around 1:50am last night? I awoke to a pitch black house and neighborhood. The story is some guy from Greensberg hit a pickup at Presto and took off. The police chased him and supposedly clocked him a 110. He lost control on Trail near ACE Hardware and took out 3 poles plus the corner of the ACE building.

[Army_of_One]

I guess it will probably be in the Hutch news tomorrow and the Dodge newspaper Friday.

[Tee]

Rumor is that the vehicle belongs to a Greensburg cop. But *supposedly* someone else was driving... ...but thats only rumor...

[Made in the USA]

Originally Posted by Detector

Anyone else find themselves in the dark around 1:50am last night? I awoke to a pitch black house and neighborhood. The story is some guy from Greensberg hit a pickup at Presto and took off. The police chased him and supposedly clocked him a 110. He lost control on Trail near ACE Hardware and took out 3 poles plus the corner of the ACE building.

I was in town shortly thereafter, Detector. They had several blocks closed off, and were still working on the lines as of this afternoon. Can you imagine hitting those dips on Trail at 110 mph??? I talked to a relative of the gal that got hit at Presto. That is similar to what I heard this morning, but i am sure that it will take forever to get into our local paper! I kept smelling smoke this morning, and I thought maybe they had a big fire going somewhere, but never heard anything.

[LordFoulsBane]

Breifly what happened (ongoing investigation and all)...

Male driving an SUV struck a pick-up at Presto and started to flee the scene. The driver/owner of the pick-up went into Presto, where a couple of SO deputies were stopping for some coffee, and told the deputies that their truck had just been hit and the person was leaving.

SO deputies headed west on trail into Dodge City after the SUV. SO requested assistance from PD units. One of my officers was at 1st and Trail as the SUV sped by at a very high, but undetermined, rate of speed. He observed the vehicle bottom out at 2nd and Trail where the driver lost control and headed somewhat north towards Lopps, but then over corrected and struck the electrical pole head on at 3rd and Trail (full airbag deployment) where the vehicle spun a number of times and then struck the NW corner of Ace Hardware.

The driver (who was uninjured except for some airbag rash on his face) was quickly apprehended by PD and SO officers. Alcohol contributed to the incident. PD units were not involved in the pursuit, but assisted SO onscene with traffic control and diagraming the result.

When the vehicle struck the electrical pole shearing it off at its base. Power was knocked out for about a third of Dodge. Aquila was on scene quickly and was able to restore power to most of the effected area in a couple hours, but the rest took a bit more work. When I cleared from the scene, Aquila was in the process of drilling a hole for a power pole.

The rumor as to the vehicle being a LEOs vehicle, is just that, rumor. Until SO, whose investigation this is, tells me otherwise, I will say that this rumor, for me, is not factual.

The smoke that decended on Dodge City last night, we believe came from a controlled burn SW of the city. The wind kicked up briefly late in the evening and the smoke drifted over the city and unfortunately, the wind then disappeared and left us with the smoke. We had a couple of fire calls due to this. So, no fire in the city last night.

P158

[K C Muffin]

Thanks for the info, Lordy!

[Flying Dutchman]

Thanks 158.

[Made in the USA]

[Tee]

Yeah...BIG thanks for setting the record straight!

Sorry if I fueled the fire.....I did report it as "rumor", not as "fact"

Let us know which it turns out to be.

Thanks for keeping us informed.

[Quietly]

Originally Posted by Army_of_One

I guess it will probably be in the Hutch news tomorrow and the Dodge newspaper Friday.

Army of One is hereby directed to today's edition of the Globe, which had the story above the fold. As far as I know, Hutch didn't have anything on it.