Crash knocks out electricity

Costa Mesa police on Monday continued to look for a man who allegedly

drove his truck into a utility pole at Santa Ana Avenue and 17th

Street late Friday, downing wires and knocking out power to nearly

1,400 homes and businesses.

The 25-year-old male driver, whose name is not being released

because an investigation is pending, sheared off the pole by driving

his Toyota pickup into it around 11:35 p.m. and then fled the scene

on foot, leaving his female passenger with minor injuries, Costa Mesa

Police Sgt. Bob Ciszek said.

Police also did not release the woman’s name, but Ciszek said she

is a 31-year-old Costa Mesa resident. She was taken to Western

Medical Center for her injuries, he said.

Ciszek said the driver will be charged with hit and run. Police

suspect alcohol was involved in the crash, but it is now too late to

test the driver’s blood-alcohol level, he said.

“We’re looking pretty hard for this person, and because an arrest

is imminent, we don’t want to give out too much information,” he

said.

The crash interrupted power to 1,388 customers in an area between

West Wilson and 16th streets to the north and south, and between

Newport Boulevard and Santa Ana Avenue to the east and west, Southern

California Edison spokesman Paul Klein said.

Some customers started to get power back as early as 12:05 a.m.

Saturday, but power wasn’t restored to all customers until 10:05 p.m.

that night, Klein said.

When the pole went down, live power lines touched each other,

causing sparks and loud noises, he said. Southern California Edison

lost six transformers and 2,000 feet of wire. An estimate on the cost

of repairs is not yet available.

“This was quite an extensive accident, and our guys labored for 23

hours to get all the power back,” Klein said

With no power, a number of businesses couldn’t open Saturday. Not

only did Ogle Street resident Dudley Kendall lose power at home, she

also couldn’t go to work Saturday at Stix & Stones Consignment on

17th Street.

“There was no point sitting in a retail shop when you’ve got no

lights,” she said.

Baycrest Wines & Spirits, which is in the same shopping center,

also was closed.

“We lost a lot of product” because there was no power to keep

coolers and freezers running, Baycrest owner Bryan Nye said. “It was

a lottery day, so we lost all of our lottery sales.”

Costa Mesa Police are asking that anyone with details about the

crash call traffic investigator Carlos Diaz at (714) 754-5264.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers government and politics. She may be

reached at (714) 966-4626 or by e-mail at

[email protected].