A two-car accident that snapped a utility pole closed a portion Saco Street to traffic for hours as crews worked to fix power lines and reset the pole last Thursday.
Police said the accident occurred at about 11 a.m. when a sports utility vehicle driven by Jesse Stevens, 25, of Weymouth, Mass., ran a red light while turning onto Saco Street from Eisenhower Drive. After Stevens’ vehicle entered the intersection, it nearly missed colliding with a pickup truck driven by Terry Twomey, 57, of Scarborough, who was driving on Saco Street headed towards Gorham. Stevens’ vehicle smashed into a utility pole in front of the Public Services Department, snapping the pole and bringing the live electrical wires down onto the road.
Both men, who were not injured, were forced to wait in their vehicles for about 40 minutes while crews from Central Maine Power responded to the scene and were able to cut the power to allow the men to safely exit their vehicles.
A spokeswoman from Central Maine Power said that about 1,000 customers in Westbrook were without power for about 90 minutes while crews worked to fix the downed power lines. She said a small area of Saco Street in the immediate area of the accident was without power for several hours after the accident while crews worked to fix the lines and reset the poles.
Twomey said he was on his way home from getting a haircut in Portland after spending the morning clamming when the accident occurred. “I was trying to avoid him,” he said. “I got hung up in the wires and the truck started smoking.”
Stevens declined to be interviewed for this story.
While he wasn’t injured, Twomey said he was getting tense in the cab of the truck as he was watching the live power line draped across the windshield start to melt through the glass into the cab.
“For a second, I thought ‘this is it.’ While I thought I was pretty safe, I had kind of a high blood pressure reading,” he said.
Fire officials estimated that it would take about six hours to fix the damage, backing up traffic well into the evening commute. The portion of Saco Street where the accident occurred was closed for most of the day Thursday.
Westbrook Police Officer Tom Haskell said Stevens was issued a summons for failure to stop at a stop sign. Haskell added both men were pretty lucky to walk away from the crash without any injuries.
Standing next to Haskell after the accident, Twomey agreed that he was fortunate to be unhurt, though he was concerned about the damage to his truck, which he has only had since August. “I feel pretty lucky, anytime you can walk away from an accident like that,” he said.
Looking back, Twomey said if he could change just one thing, he would have picked a different route home. “Sometimes I go back Spring Street,” he said. “I wish I had today.”
A sports utility vehicle driven by a Weymouth, Mass. man rests against a untility pole on Saco Street after an accident that brought live electrical wires onto the road Thursday morning. Police said the accident occured when the SUV ran a stop sign and narrowly missed hitting a pickup truck. Both drivers were unhurt. 
After the accident on Saco Street Thursday morning, Terry Twomey of Scarborough was trapped in his truck for 40 minutes while crews worked to clear live electrical lines off the road. Twomey said one line was draped over the windshield of his truck and began to melt through the glass.
Terry Twomey of Scarborough waits in his truck after an accident on Saco Street Thursday morning. Twomey narrowly missed being hit by a sports utility vehicle that ran a stop sign at the intersection of Saco Street and Eisenhower Drive. Twomey, who was not hurt, was forced to wait in his truck for 40 minutes while crews cleared the live power lines from the road.
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