Car impaled by utility pole in freak accident in Rosemead

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ROSEMEAD >> A woman suffered a broken arm and narrowly escaped more serious injury after a utility pole impaled her car following a freak accident on Valley Boulevard in Rosemead, authorities said.
The crash took place just after 6 p.m. on Valley Boulevard, near Merwin C. Gill Way, Los Angeles County sheriff’s Lt. William Wicker said.
The metal utility pole smashed through the windshield of the car, exiting through the driver-side rear window and narrowly missing the driver, according to sheriff’s and fire officials.
The crash was triggered when a cable strung between two utility poles to display banners suddenly fell onto the roadway, Wicker said.
The fallen cable ended up entangled with an SUV that was eastbound on Valley Boulevard, the lieutenant said. The SUV then ripped the pole in half, tossing a long portion of it into westbound traffic lanes.
“A White Acura heading westbound struck the pole. It went through the windshield,” Wicker said.
The pole narrowly missed directly striking the driver, described only as a woman, officials said.
“It looked like it was pretty close,” Wicker said.
But after freeing the woman from the wreckage, firefighters took her to a hospital with injuries not believed to be life-threatening, including a broken arm, the lieutenant said.
Two women who were inside the SUV that became entangled with the fallen cable were not injured, he said.
It was not clear Wednesday what caused the cable to fall, or who was responsible for it.

PHOTO courtesy of KCBS/KCAL

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