Lexington, SC 03/13/2024 (Paul Kirby) – Lexington County firefighters used the Jaws of Life to assist in extricating two people who were trapped in a serious collision that occurred at the intersection of Old Cherokee Road and Sunset Boulevard Monday afternoon. The collision, which occurred just before 1:30 p.m., left multiple lanes of Sunset Boulevard and Old Cherokee Road blocked.
Lexington police officers quickly announced on their social media sites that drivers travelling in that area needed to consider an alternate route as they directed traffic around the damaged vehicles and the firefighters that were working in the road. According to a witness who was watching from across the street at the Waffle House, the firefighters were able to quickly free two occupants from the vehicle before turning their care over to the EMS crews who were already on the scene waiting.
According to the EMS crew, at least one of the people in the overturned vehicle was unrestrained and the force of the collision tossed them around violently when the vehicles collided. The passenger ended up on the drivers side, but once in the ambulance, a full medical assessment showed that the pateint's condition could have been much worse.
As they do so well, officers with the Lexington Police Department had lined up wreckers to remove the damaged vehicles from the scene as soon as the patients were clear, and the fire and EMS personnel had finished their jobs. Within a matter of an hour, Lexington officers reported that the road was clear and traffic was flowing again. They said that the collision was caused by a driver that disregarded the traffic light.
