Crime & Safety

Downed Lines Trap Ambulance Crew

Downed power lines trapped rescue workers on the scene of a car accident earlier this morning.

Downed power lines trapped emergency workers as they responded to a car accident in Fredericksburg earlier this morning. Around 5:30 a.m., police say a Honda Civic driven by 38-year-old Spotsylvania resident Jennifer Mann collided with a GMC pickup truck as she tried to merge from the left to right lane of Route 1 as she approached the Route 3 interchange from the South. The force of the crash forced the truck off the road, flattening a city street sign and a guardrail before impacting a utility pole, completely severing it from its base. 

A city ambulance crew arrived on the scene at 5:32 p.m., but before medics could leave the ambulance, a passing tractor trailer snagged on some of the now lowered powerlines. The resulting tangle saw power lines draped over the ambulance, forcing the emergency workers to remain inside the ambulance until additional rescuers could check to see if the lines held a current. Around 5:41 a.m., a second ambulance arrived to tend to the victims of the accident, neither of which sustained serious injuries. 

The northbound lanes of Route 1 and the eastbound lanes of Route 3 were closed in the vicinity of the accident and traffic was diverted. Dominion Power says that there were no power outages as a result of the accident. By 6:45 a.m., all lanes had reopened. 

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Mann was charged with making an unsafe lane change and both cars were towed from the scene.


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