By KIM SMITH DEDAM
Staff Writer
July 04, 2009 03:28 am
—
SARANAC LAKE — A Fort Jackson woman is in intensive care after her car smashed into a utility pole Friday.
Saranac Lake Police said Mary B. McAllister, 50, was driving west on Lake Flower Avenue when she apparently fell unconscious and drove off the road.
Despite busy weekend and noontime traffic, no other vehicles were hit as McAllister's car ricocheted off the pole into a rock wall.
Police Sgt. James P. Law was the first to arrive at the accident.
"I saw a 2007 Toyota Rav4 sitting between two lanes of traffic. The woman (driving it) was in the car completely unresponsive. So I removed her from vehicle and started performing CPR."
Soon other emergency medical personnel arrived and kept working on McAllister.
"She did not come back to consciousness," Law said.
But emergency personnel were able to get a pulse at the hospital, he said.
"She's in intensive care right now," Law said Friday evening.
The collision snapped the power pole in two, cutting electricity to the busy commercial area.
John Girard, manager of Pizza Hut on Lake Flower Avenue, said he watched what happened after the crash that occurred around 12:30 p.m., not 100 feet from the entrance to his restaurant.
It's a busy strip of road with intersections for McDonald's across the road, an Aldi's food store, a gas station, Carcuzzi car wash and the Coakley High Peaks Ace Hardware shopping plaza.
"It was a minivan, light blue; it was a woman driving. I think she had a heart attack and they brought her back," Girard said from his workplace, shortly after the woman was transported to the hospital.
"She hit the pole and broke it in half, right in two pieces. The wires are holding up one half right against a house. I think she hit a cement wall, after she hit the pole. The car veered across the road and hit the wall next door."
Fortunately, no other vehicles were involved in the crash, Girard said, despite the hectic Friday traffic.
Lake Flower Avenue runs into Route 86 connecting Saranac Lake and Lake Placid.
"She didn't hit any other person or any car," Sgt. Law said.
"She was driving toward Saranac Lake."
The road remained closed for two-and-a-half hours, waiting for National Grid crews to arrive.
The electric company was able to open up one lane of traffic, Law said.
"That whole area lost power while they transferred wires."
Police could not confirm what caused McAllister to lose control of the vehicle and are continuing to investigate the accident.
E-mail Kim Smith Dedam at: kdedam@pressrepublican.com
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Photos
An electric power pole dangles over Route 86 in the Village of Saranac Lake after being struck by a car early Friday afternoon. The driver was administered CPR at the site then taken to the Adirondack Medical Center in Saranac Lake for treatment. Heavy holiday traffic was held up on Route 86 for about two hours. P-R Photo