Daily photo by Gary Cosby Jr.

Crash causes power outage

Decatur firefighters clean up a wreck site on Sixth Avenue Southeast between Fourth and Fifth streets that caused a power outage at 5:30 p.m. Friday. Police said they arrested driver Matthew Scott Willingham on a charge of driving under the influence.

Willingham’s three juvenile passengers were taken to Decatur General Hospital for treatment. Their conditions were not available. Heath Reed, a dispatcher for Decatur Utilities, said the crash knocked the street light pole into a power line and caused the outage, which affected 356 customers for about two hours.

“There were lines down on the ground,” said Reed. “I do not know if they were life-threatening or not, but they did get the wires back up in the air.”

DU left a truck to hold the pole up during the holiday weekend, and Reed advised drivers to use caution in the area.

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