Tractor-Trailer Driver Charged With OUI After Knocking Out Power In Chelsea Crash
CHELSEA (CBS) – A truck driver is charged with driving drunk and causing a chain-reaction crash that started a fire and left several homes without power in Chelsea early Wednesday morning.
Police said Douglas McClellan, 46, of Ohio, lost control of his tractor-trailer and hit 2 fire hydrants, 3 parked cars, a fence and an electrical transformer in the area of Broadway and Library Street around 11:30 p.m Tuesday.
The transformer caught fire, knocking out electricity to at least 50 homes. The homes were without power Tuesday night, and will face patches of outages on Wednesday as repairs are made.
"It sounds like something is exploding," one neighbor said. "Once he hit that big electric thing, I called the cops and they responded quickly. He was trying to take off after he hit all these things."
"We had a tractor trailer who was unfamiliar with the area, it's a tightly congested area. He struck a pad-mounted generator with a minimum of 13,000 volts through it," Dep. Fire Chief Robert Cameron told reporters.
No injuries were reported. The tractor-trailer, owned by Plogger Transportation of Bellvue, Ohio, was towed from the scene, police say.
McClellan was arraigned in Chelsea District Court Wednesday, charged with operating under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident involving property damage. His defense attorneys argued McClellan was lost and on medication at the time of the crash. He was held on $2,000 bail.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Carl Stevens reports
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