Shortly before 10 p.m. on Wednesday, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office 911 dispatch center received a report of a vehicle that had crashed into a Wisconsin Public Service power transformer on Kings Road, near Kings Dam in the town of Bradley. The caller reported that the vehicle struck the transformer and that the female operator fled the crash scene into the woods.
The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office and Tomahawk Fire Department were dispatched to the scene. The investigation into the crash determined that the vehicle had been eastbound on Kings Road when it failed to negotiate a curve. The vehicle left the roadway, struck a guide wire for a utility pole, then the transformer, and became airborne. The vehicle then struck the utility pole approximately 10 feet off the ground before landing on a large boulder.
Officers from the Tomahawk Police Department and the K9 unit from the Rhinelander Police Department responded to the scene to assist in searching for the operator, but she was not immediately located. At approximately 3 a.m., the operator, Jessica Smith, 21, was found sleeping in the woods a short distance from the crash scene. She was transported to Sacred Heart Hospital by Tomahawk EMS for non-life threatening injuries.
Wisconsin Public Service responded to and remained at the crash scene making repairs for over six hours. The Kings Dam was shut down for this period in case of power loss during the repair. Though an exact total for the cost of the damages to Wisconsin Public Service property is not known, it is estimated that total could reach tens of thousands of dollars.
The cause and circumstances of the crash remain under investigation.