Alcohol suspected to be a factor in multi-vehicle crash Saturday night
Haley Swaino
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Two drivers were suspected of being intoxicated in a multi-vehicle crash Saturday night which resulted in a woman being taken to the hospital with moderate injuries, according to Columbia Police Department Lieutenant Anthony Bowne.
The crash shut down a portion of southbound Providence Road in Columbia around 10:45 p.m. on Saturday.
An ABC 17 News reporter arrived on the scene around 11:20 p.m. and saw three vehicles that appeared to have been involved in a crash near the intersection of South Providence Road and East Nifong Boulevard.
The woman who was hospitalized was driving east on Nifong Blvd. when she hit a transformer pole and another vehicle, according to Lt. Bowne.
“I see this car just past me, she’s going about 80 or 90, and I’m just thinking to myself, ‘somebody’s going to kill somebody going that fast,'” witness at the scene Lailaa Bashir said.
The driver of the second vehicle was a man whom police also suspect was intoxicated.
A second female driver was hit and pushed into a ditch by the male driver.
“From what I heard, they basically got startled by her and then they hit each other,” Bashir said.
The hospitalized woman’s car flipped, while the man’s car later caught on fire. One vehicle was off the side of the road not showing major damage.
Witnesses at the scene reported hearing the woman say she wanted to “go to the Kohl’s,” while bleeding from the head.
“It’s clear that she was in distress mentally and physically, so we just wanted to get her some help, make sure she was good,” Bashir said.
CPD said that the hospitalized woman ran from the scene and was later found behind the Kohl’s on Green Meadows Road.
Tow trucks arrived on scene around 11:40 p.m. All vehicles were removed from the scene by 12:20 a.m. The other drivers reported some pain from the crash but did not need hospitalization. Boone County Joint Communications reported the road was clear at around 12:50 a.m.
This is an ongoing investigation.