Two crashes 3 hours apart at same spot in Penn Twp. were apparent medical events: police

Harrison Jones, Hanover Evening Sun
·2 min read

Two crashes, which happened roughly three hours apart at the same spot, were both believed to be caused by drivers suffering medical emergencies, police said.

Both crashes occurred in the intersection of Grandview Road and Sonny Street in Penn Township Monday.

The first crash, dispatched at 11:28 a.m., which occurred after a driver suffered a serious medical emergency, sent that driver to the hospital, said Penn Township Police Officer Jules Celich. The crash involved three vehicles total with minor damage, and no injuries other than the initial medical emergency, officers said.

Rebound Towing tows a vehicle at the scene where a driver had an apparent medical event and crashed on the 3000 block of Grandview Road, Monday, Nov. 13, 2023, in Penn Township. The man was transported to the hospital, police said.
Rebound Towing tows a vehicle at the scene where a driver had an apparent medical event and crashed on the 3000 block of Grandview Road, Monday, Nov. 13, 2023, in Penn Township. The man was transported to the hospital, police said.

The second crash, dispatched at 2:14 p.m., was also believed to be the result of a medical emergency, Celich said.

Celich said that, in the second crash, the driver of a pick-up truck is believed to have suffered a medical emergency, coasting off of the road and into a utility pole before the truck came to rest in the yard of a home.

Shortly after the pick-up struck the utility pole, a semi-truck was driving northbound on Grandview Road when the trailer of the truck pulled on low hanging wires that had dropped due to the crash. That caused the truck to pull down two of the electrical poles, smashing them into the top of the trailer,

The driver of the pick-up truck, who was awake when crews got to the scene, declined to be treated by EMS. No other injuries were reported.

A pickup truck sits in front of a damage semi-truck and utility poles at the scene of a second crash on the 3000 block of Grandview Road, Monday, Nov. 13, 2023, in Penn Township.
A pickup truck sits in front of a damage semi-truck and utility poles at the scene of a second crash on the 3000 block of Grandview Road, Monday, Nov. 13, 2023, in Penn Township.

Grandview Road is expected to be closed for an extended period of time due to the second of the two crashes, as the semi-truck was hauling 50,000 pounds of woodchips that will need to be unloaded, said Celich.

Met-Ed and Verizon were called to the scene to repair the utility wires and poles that were pulled down in the second crash, she said, which will also take time.

Celich characterized the two almost back-to-back crashes as "unusual," noting that the intersection isn't typically a problem area.

Workers from Met-Ed work to repair utility poles at the scene of a second crash on the 3000 block of Grandview Road, Monday, Nov. 13, 2023, in Penn Township. 500-1500 customers were affected by the outage.
Workers from Met-Ed work to repair utility poles at the scene of a second crash on the 3000 block of Grandview Road, Monday, Nov. 13, 2023, in Penn Township. 500-1500 customers were affected by the outage.

Met-Ed's outage indicator reported that 501-1500 customers were believed to be affected by an outage in the area after the crash.

Harrison Jones is the Hanover reporter for the Evening Sun. Contact him at hjones@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Hanover Evening Sun: 2 crashes 3 hours apart at same spot in Penn Twp., Pa.: police