Thursday accident causes power outage

An accident that occurred Thursday just before 4 p.m. at East Cherokee and Jenkins Streets in Sallisaw reportedly knocked out power and DiamondNet services to several customers.

Sallisaw Police officer Lita Armer reported officers were dispatched to the area after a truck struck utility lines, causing an electric pole to snap.

Armer said the driver, Jeffrey R. Scott, of Sallisaw, was hauling a trailer and stayed in the driver seat due to the electric lines being on top of it. Scott and his passenger, Nathan Ellis, were told to stay in the vehicle by Armer until workers with Sallisaw City Electric Department showed up to deem it safe.

Workers arrived and had to shut down the street due to the pole, electric and other lines being down, which also caused that grid to be down, resulting in the area to be without electric, according to Armer’s report.

Scott told Armer he was hauling equipment for Circle Bar H, LLC in a 2021 GMC truck and claimed a horse exerciser he was hauling was under 14 feet in height. However, after being measured, it was 15.11 in height, according to the report. Troopers with Size and Weights also confirmed anything over 14 feet had to be permitted.

Armer told Scott he had to park the vehicle and either obtain a permit or make the load shorter, and was cited for the oversized load. Scott then reportedly detached the truck from the trailer and left it parked until other arrangements could be made.

City utilities had the road closed until around 2 a.m. the following morning to replace the pole and lines.