A man talking on his cell phone while driving knocked out power in Yucca Mesa yesterday afternoon. According to a Sheriff’s report, Greg Han, 52, was driving westbound on Buena Vista in his 2013 Toyota Corolla while talking on the phone traveling at a high rate of speed about 4 p.m.
The report states that Han wasn’t paying attention to the road and crossed over the eastbound lane, and hit a dirt berm on the south side of the road near Lomita Drive. The car continued into a high-power utility pole and snapped it off at the base. Han’s Toyota came to rest on the passenger side, wrapped in power lines, and with Han suspended from his seatbelt inside. Paramedics had to wait for Southern California Edison for about an hour to arrive to shut down the power lines. Once the power was turned off, Yucca Mesa paramedics used a window saw to remove Han from the car’s front windshield. The crash damaged six surrounding power poles and power was out for several hours yesterday. Lomita Drive was also shut down from Buena Vista to Old Haggard while So Cal Edison crews worked on restoring power. Han appeared to be uninjured but was taken to Desert Hospital in Palm Springs as a precaution.
