A tow truck arrives to grab a vehicle that was overturned in front of Johnson and Hardwick halls early Saturday morning. | Julie Christie TTN
A major accident involving a northbound car on Broad Street early Saturday morning resulted in no injuries, Temple Police said. The vehicle hit a light pole and a tree on the sidewalk outside Johnson and Hardwick Residence Halls located at 2029 N. Broad St. around 1:40 a.m.
The driver was able to leave the scene and walk to the McDonald’s at 2109 N. Broad St. to get help, said Charlie Leone, executive director of Campus Safety Services. He added the driver was taken to Temple University Hospital by fire rescue and was later released with only minor injuries.
The vehicle hit a tree, leaving just the stump while the trunk rests upside down and against another tree pic.twitter.com/MEjhix48Iw
— Julie Christie (@ChristieJules) February 20, 2016
“This looks like it was a freak accident,” Leone said. “It seems as though he tried to change lanes and then cut back, then he lost control of the car and hit the pole, then the tree, then flipped and landed on the sidewalk.” The vehicle knocked a light pole out of the sidewalk and went through a small tree, leaving just the stump in its place. A huge dent in the hood was about the same size of the pole, which rested under the tree after the accident.
— Julie Christie (@ChristieJules) February 20, 2016
He added there is no suspicion of alcohol or any other substance use, but the accident investigation is not yet complete. Temple Police and Philadelphia Police are working together to review footage from cameras that may have recorded the accident to further understand what happened.
“We’re very fortunate nobody got hurt,” Leone said. “Broad Street is a busy place, but it happened when there wasn’t very much foot traffic.”
Julie Christie can be reached at julie.christie@temple.edu or on Twitter @ChristieJules.
