A car collision occurred on the north side of Jefferson Boulevard between McClintock and Orchard Avenues on Thursday evening, downing some power lines. Department of Public Safety (DPS) officers patrolling the area witnessed the scene and responded immediately.
“Our officers came across a three car collision where one vehicle had spun out of control, crashed and severed a city light pole and the collision caused the pole to fall and there were exposed live power wires on the sidewalk,” said DPS Chief Assistant David Carlisle.
DPS officers immediately contacted the Los Angeles Police Department to investigate the accident. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power were also asked to visit the scene due to the downed power lines.
Carlisle also spoke on how DPS was able to provide their services during this incident.
“As a result of that collision, westbound traffic on Jefferson from McClintock was blocked, so we issued a USCTrojansAlert to let people know to seek an alternate route in case they had to pass by that location,” Carlisle said.
DPS alerted USC students three times through email and once by text to let them know that there was an accident around campus. In addition to updates as the situation was ongoing, they sent out a final update to let students know that the area was cleared as safe to enter.
LADWP also sent out three alerts addressing the power lines being down after the accident took place. Despite the crashing of the power lines, there was no indication that power went out on that street for any USC buildings.
Melissa Gutierrez, a student majoring in health promotions, has lived in the area where the collision happened for a year. She mentioned how it seems that accidents on those streets occur frequently.
“It’s almost been a year and I can almost count at least four accidents that have happened just at the intersection,” Gutierrez said.
Jefferson Boulevard, between McClintock Avenue and Orchard Avenue is a busy intersection on campus where many students cross daily. The accident occurred right near popular areas at University Park Campus, such as the USC Village and the Lyon Recreational Center.
The accident also affected transportation; it blocked off the primary route the shuttles for the Lorenzo take when picking up USC students, as well as one of the L.A. Metro bus stops.
Carlisle also mentioned how DPS managed the area after the collision, “We kept the destructions away from where the damaged pole had fallen because there potentially were hotwires on the roadway, so we assisted in this situation by keeping traffic and pedestrians from moving into the area where the collision occurred and where the wires were at.”
Significant damage was done to the vehicles as they were towed from the scene. Carlisle mentioned that despite this accident occurring in USC’s vicinity, there were no USC students involved in this accident.
The north side of Jefferson Boulevard was closed for approximately two hours after the incident and reopened later that night.