Downtown debacle

Driver hits several parked cars, a light pole, a tree and someone sitting on a bench downtown

The scene of the accident in downtown. At right, Sebastopol Fire Chief Todd Derum talks with Gold Ridge Fire Chief Shepley Schroth-Cary. (Photo by Laura Hagar Rush)

Emergency vehicles lined an entire block of Main Street this morning after a driver hit several parked cars, a light pole, a tree and a 40-year-old woman sitting on a public bench outside of the Lunch Box restaurant.

Fire engines and paramedics from the Sebastopol Fire Department and Gold Ridge Fire Department arrived on the scene moments after getting a 9:32 a.m. call about an incident involving what Gold Ridge Fire Chief Shepley Schroth-Cary described as “a vehicle versus a pedestrian” incident.

When Sebastopol Fire personnel arrived at the scene, they found two wounded individuals—the driver of the car and the woman who’d been sitting on the bench, which was now just a crumpled pile of metal and wood.

Sebastopol’s interim Fire Chief Todd Derum roped off some open electrical wiring, where the light pole had been.

Schroth-Cary said they don’t know yet what caused the accident. “I don’t know if there was a medical emergency prior and that’s what caused it. We’re still assessing that.”