Staff Reporter

RESERVE-Willy Bryant was on his way home from his night shift at Exxon Mobile on Tuesday morning when his vehicle veered off of the road and struck a telephone pole about a mile west of East St. John High School on Airline Highway.

According to Sgt. Conrad Baker of St. John Parish Sheriff’s Department, Bryant’s Dodge Durango cleared a ditch and struck the pole at about 10 a.m. Tuesday. He was cited with careless operation of a vehicle and there was no evidence off alcohol or drugs playing a role in the wreck.

Bryant said that he was not asleep at the wheel and he was not injured in the crash. He credited his seat belt for saving his life.

&#8220I worked all night,” said Bryant. &#8220I blinked and I was in the ditch. I had my seat belt on. Thank God for that. My seatbelt saved my life.”

The accident caused a power line to fall across the highway and on Lawrence Thoman’s truck. Thoman immediately put his vehicle in reverse and struck another vehicle driven by Sommer Naquin. All involved in the two separate accidents were not injured and refused medical attention.

According to Thoman and Naquin, Bryant’s Durango struck the pole and a fire was ignited.

&#8220I saw it go in the ditch,” said Naquin. &#8220The light pole and wires went up in flames. We were freaking out. Everything over there looked like fireworks.”

Thoman couldn’t believe Bryant emerged from the vehicle unharmed.

&#8220His car was airborne,” said Thoman. &#8220When he hit the pole, it started firing up. The power line came down on my truck.”

The line that fell across the highway left charred marks on the pavement. Entergy Costumer Service Manager Tammy Frank said that a blink occurred at the time of the crash and the power was cut off at 12:55 for a little over an hour to replace the damaged pole. The outage affected 185 costumers.