Man charged with reckless driving for Route 1 crash that knocked out power
A Huntington man was charged with reckless driving after a crash Friday night that knocked down a utility pole Friday and cut power for some residents in the area for more than 17 hours.
John Eells, 62, allegedly crashed a Land Rover into a pole on Richmond Highway near Mount Eagle Drive around 11:30 p.m., destroying the pole and damaging wires and other electrical equipment. Eells was taken to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to a police spokesman.
The initial crash took out power for thousands of Dominion Virginia Power customers, some as far away as the Groveton area, for more than an hour. More than 200 customers in the Belle Haven and Huntington neighborhoods remained without power until approximately 4:30 p.m. Saturday.
The wreck was the second crash in the Huntington area on Friday that took out a utility pole and cut power to nearby residences and businesses. Around 3:30 a.m. on Friday, a 2006 BMW hit a pole in the 2600 block of Huntington Avenue. The driver, who police said was a male, fled the scene. No arrests have been made in the case; a check of local hospitals that night did not turn up any possible suspects, according to police.
The owner of the car, who is female, did not report the vehicle being stolen, the spokesman said.
It took more than 12 hours for all repair work to be completed after the Huntington Avenue wreck, although the majority of customers in the area had power back approximately an hour after the crash, according to Dominion Virginia Power.
Last year there were 745 crashes around the state that destroyed utility poles, according to a Dominion Virginia Power spokesman. The combined cost of replacing the poles was $2.8 million.
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