Driver Rescued From Fiery Wreck In McKeesport
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MCKEESPORT (KDKA) - A high-speed car crash ended in flames along West Fifth Avenue in McKeesport Thursday night.
Police responded after witnesses saw a driver lose control, crash into several telephone poles, a home's front porch, and then flip multiple times.
As a result of the crash, the light pole's transformer fell to the ground and the car caught fire.
Good Samaritans in the other lane stopped their cars and pulled the driver out of his vehicle to safety. They told KDKA News that the driver was coherent, but said he didn't know what had happened.
The fiery crash also knocked down Jamie Burkett's front porch and totaled her family car that was parked out front.
"There's someone in my house on oxygen and I mean, the gas meter, the oxygen, and the fire-- it could have been a lot worse," said Burkett.
She said this is the fourth time speeding drivers wrecked either her front fence or totaled her cars parked out front.
"It was the time I was getting off of work so my son and grandma might have been sitting on that porch if it was warmer out," Burkett said.
The man who ran to the driver's aid said he saw a "black flash" out of the corner of his eye and soon realized it was a black car speeding past him at speeds upwards of 80 miles per hour.
"I pulled over on the side and jumped out because I didn't know how many people were inside the car, and the car caught on fire," said Chad Krol. "There was another gentleman over here who ran over to the car and was pulling him out of the car and we moved him to the side because we didn't know if it was going to explode or anything."
The crash toppled more than one telephone pole and filled the street with glass, car parts, wires and fuel.
"He flew past me and was going around the bend and you could see he was losing control of the car and the car was parked on the side and he must have hit it and he flew up over top of the parked car and then into the transformer on the telephone pole and then it just flipped a couple times," said Krol.
Burkett says her family now needs to find another place to stay.
"It looks like he just clipped the corner, but he ripped my gas meter off so basically the gas department condemned my house so technically I'm homeless," Burkett said.
Our calls to the McKeesport Police Department were not immediately returned Friday morning. It's not yet clear if any charges will be filed against the driver.