BREAKING: Car Accident KOs Utility Pole, Leading To Closure Of Coney Island Ave

A white SUV barreled over the sidewalk and through – literally, through – a utility pole, knocking out approximately 10 feet from the bottom of the pole. The remainder of the pole is currently suspended in the air, being held up by the very wires it was installed to support.

(Updates at bottom of this post.)

The accident took place shortly before noon and forced responders to close Coney Island Avenue to traffic between Avenue W and Avenue Y, Sheepshead Bites has learned.

We were first informed by our writer Erica Sherman, who was on a B68 bus forced to detour to Ocean Parkway because of the accident. Then Elana P. wrote to us describing the scene:

“There seems to be some sort of pretty bad accident. Cops and firefighters everywhere. I was able to duck into the walgreens parking lot to snap a couple of pics of a smashed up car on the sidewalk with a tree trunk/pole on its roof,” Elana wrote.

Firefighters were seen dousing the vehicle with water.

The accident occurred just yards away from the 61st Precinct. We’re awaiting details from the NYPD about the cause of the accident and if there were any injuries.

Check out this crop of the above photo from Elana, which show the white SUV on the curb, the utility pole on top of it, and the remainder of the utility pole suspended in the air:

UPDATE (1:00 p.m.): Our NYPD source tells us that there were no major injuries in regards to the accident.

“It hit one of the older poles, and I guess knocked some lines loose. Very, very, very minor injuries. One car involved and that’s it,” the police source said.

He added that the driver was able to walk away from his vehicle after the incident. He could not say whether the vehicle was speeding, and no charges have been filed against the driver.

As for poles shattering at the base? Apparently it happens more often then we think.

“It happened a few weeks ago by Petco. It happens. Believe it or not, you’d think those poles are a lot stronger, but they do crack sometimes,” he said.

This is a breaking news story and may contain inaccuracies. We will update it as more information becomes available. If anyone has more information or additional photos, please send them to tips (at) sheepsheadbites (dot) com.