Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Truck driver wreaks havoc in Hailey

Collision shears off traffic signal pole


By GREG MOORE
Express Staff Writer

The Idaho Transportation Department plans to install a temporary traffic signal at Hailey's busiest intersection by Thursday afternoon.

The light was knocked out early Friday morning by an allegedly drunken driver. Permanent replacement should be done in about two weeks, the ITD stated.

According to a press release from the Hailey Police Department, Brandon S. Walker, 32, of Hailey, was southbound in a red 2004 Toyota Tacoma pickup truck when he entered the intersection of Main and Bullion streets at about 1:15 a.m. Friday. Walker's truck rammed the traffic signal pole on the southwest side of the intersection and sheared it off at the base, the release states.

"This vehicle then drove up on the sidewalk, shearing at least two trees off at the base, continued southbound on the sidewalk, colliding into the front of The Red Elephant Saloon, continued on and collided into the front wall of the Lone Star building, where it finally came to rest," the press release states.

Walker was transported to St. Luke's Wood River Medical Center where he was treated and released. He was booked into Blaine County Jail on a misdemeanor DUI charge but released on a $500 bond. Results of a blood alcohol test have not yet been returned to the police department.

No pedestrians were reported to have been in the truck's path.

Sal Caredda, owner of the Red Elephant, said he was about to close up when he and the six or seven people left in the building felt an impact and saw a red flash.

"We were at the bar and we were talking and the building started shaking a little bit and at first I thought, 'Oh boy, this is an earthquake,'" Caredda said. "We looked at each other and said, 'What the hell was that?'"

Caredda said he called 911 and said, "This is something, we don't know what. We don't know what it is."

"We walked right away outside and saw all the mess," he said. "The car was smoking."

Caredda said the building sustained little damage but his flower boxes were missing.

Mary Anne Kindred, an employee at Lone Star, said the truck's impact smashed the furniture store's front window. Kindred said insurance inspectors had not yet determined whether the collision had caused any structural damage to the building. She said some furniture inside was damaged by flying glass.

"The flowers from the Red Elephant ended up in our front window," Kindred added. "He took ours out and replaced them with theirs."

Traffic lights at the intersection have been temporarily replaced by four-way stop signs.

ITD District 4 Traffic Engineer Bruse Christensen said Monday that it should take about two weeks to repair the signal light, at a cost to the state of about $10,000.




 Local Weather 
Search archives:


Copyright © 2024 Express Publishing Inc.   Terms of Use   Privacy Policy
All Rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Express Publishing Inc. is prohibited. 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.