A young Jamestown man has been charged in connection with a Thursday night accident on Livingston Avenue that sent several friends and acquaintances to various hospitals.
Terrance Hubbard, 23, of 499 Front St., Jamestown, was charged with speed not reasonable and prudent, driving without a license, reckless operation, failure to stop at a stop sign, failure to keep right, four counts of first-degree reckless endangerment, second-degree filing a false written report and for having a child under the age of 16 in the vehicle without a seatbelt.
Jamestown police say that around 11:30 p.m. Thursday, Hubbard was driving a dark blue 2003 Chevy TrailBlazer west on Livingston Avenue at a very high speed when he apparently blew the stop sign at Lister Avenue. As the SUV was descending the hill ahead of the intersection, it crossed into the oncoming lane, then into a wooded area where it continued, narrowly missing a tree on the left and a utility pole on the right.
At the bottom of the hill in the woods, it hit an earth embankment head-on, then catapulted into a privately owned storage garage at the corner of Chicago Avenue.
The rear hatch of the Trail Blazer actually hit the corner of the roof, which is at least 25 feet in the air, then the vehicle fell back to the ground on its roof.
Amazingly enough, no one inside sustained any life-threatening injuries, police say, although two of the passengers were seriously injured.
Capt. Robert Samuelson with the Jamestown Police Department said that Hubbard was in the front seat with another passenger, who were both buckled up, while two passengers in the middle seat were unbuckled as was the female in the farthest seat back.
Rescue crews weren't able to cut the last victim from the SUV until 12:30 a.m., almost an hour after the incident due to the extensive damage to the vehicle.
The names of the victims have not been released but at least one of the passengers is said to be at the Erie County Medical Center with serious injuries.
"Everyone was injured in the crash, but they are really lucky to be alive," he said. "Based on the damage to the vehicle and the building, and the way they came off the road, they must have been traveling in excess of highway speeds."
Samuelson said that he was amazed that the vehicle missed the utility pole and tree which it glided in between before hitting the roof of the building.
"Going that fast, there's no way he could have steered to avoid them," he said. "If they would have hit either of them at that speed, chances are it wouldn't have been good."
The TrailBlazer is totaled, with damage to every inch of the vehicle, although the air bags didn't deploy upon impact.
Jamestown police officers were assisted on the scene by officers from Ellicott and Lakewood-Busti police departments. Firefighters from Jamestown, Celoron, Lakewood and Ashville all assisted with the rescue.
Hubbard was arraigned in Jamestown City Court on Friday morning and sent to the Chautauqua County Jail where he is being held awaiting a bail recommendation from District Attorney David Foley's office. He will return to city court for a preliminary hearing on June 3 at 10:30 a.m.
