Tulsa World
TULSA, Okla. — Two people were injured — one critically — Monday afternoon after a car Tulsa police said was driving recklessly allegedly caused a three-vehicle pileup.
Sgt. Chris Witt said an officer attempted to pull over a silver car Monday about 1 p.m., but lost sight of the car before the officer could turn around.
The car was allegedly speeding through neighborhoods, and residents attempted to assist the officer by pointing out which direction it had gone, Witt said.
Eventually the car, which was westbound on East Newton Street, crossed North Yale Avenue, where it struck a red pickup with a large wooden trailer carrying a backhoe. The trailer dislodged, Witt said, and the two vehicles, now merged together, spun into the front yard of a residence just north of East Newton Street.
The trailer, which was rolling, collided with a southbound grease truck, Witt said.
The car’s driver is in critical condition at St. John Medical Center. The driver of the pickup was identified as Ben Herring, a District Chief for the Tulsa Fire Department. He was off duty at the time, said fire department spokesman Stan May.
Herring was transported to Hillcrest Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries, Witt said. The driver of the grease truck was uninjured.
Witt said police don’t know why the car’s driver was driving so recklessly. The speedometer in the car, which often “sticks at the point of impact,” Witt said, was stuck at 68 mph.
North Yale was closed from East Marshall Street to East Pine Street for more than four hours.
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