Fayetteville Driver Flown To Hospital After Jeep Snaps Utility Pole In Half

A driver has received air transport to a hospital in Chapel Hill for the personal injuries she suffered in a collision with a utility pole on Honeycutt Road in Fayetteville.

At approximately 7:45 a.m., 40-year-old Demetra Simmons was westbound on Honeycutt Road, heading toward Murchison Road, when the 2004 Jeep Cherokee she was driving ran off the right side of the road, according to North Carolina Highway Patrol Trooper B.A. Taylor.

Taylor said the SUV struck the curb before colliding with a utility pole, snapping it in two.

The top half of the pole was left hanging in the dangling power lines. Other lines snapped and were lying across the road.

The road had to be closed between McArthur Road and Church Street as rescuers worked to free Simmons, who was trapped inside the SUV. The road was reopened after workers from South River Electric Membership Corp. installed a new pole and restored power.

Simmons received helicopter transport to the UNC Healthcare System. Her condition was unknown, but according to Taylor, she was alert and talking.

Taylor said the cause of the SUV running off the road was not known.