Police said speed was a factor in the Monday morning crash.
08.01.2011 | SPRINGFIELD - Firefighters used a winch to pull a Ford Explorer off an electrical transformer before they could use the Jaws of Life to extricate the driver, who suffered life threatening injuries.
Springfield Fire Department photo by Dennis LegerSPRINGFIELD – A 62-year-old city man, critically injured Monday morning in a single-vehicle crash at State Street and St. James Avenue, has since died from his injuries at Baystate Medical Center, a spokesman said.
The accident occurred about 4:15 a.m. as Francisco Sanchez, traveling east on State Street at a high rate of speed, attempted to take a left onto St. James Avenue, police said. The vehicle, a Ford Explorer, turned into the wrong side of the traffic island, jumped the curb and crashed into an iron fence and electric transformer box.
Preliminary police reports indicated the Ford Explorer came to rest up against the transformer box, trapping the driver inside the SUV as wires sparked outside the vehicle. Fire Department spokesman Dennis G. Leger said firefighters required the Jaws of Life to extricate the victim from the vehicle.
Sanchez lived on Queen Street.