One person dead after crashing into a utility pole
UPDATE: 2:27 p.m.: Columbia Police have released the name of the driver who died in a early morning crash Sunday morning.
Briann Rodgers, 35, was killed after his car went off the left side of the roadway crashing into a utility pole. Then crashing into a concrete sign.
Columbia Police say Rodgers was not wearing a seatbelt. Police believe excessive speed was a factor in this crash.
At this time it is unknown if Rodgers was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
UPDATE: 11:17 a.m.: Texas Avenue is back open and the pole has been replaced.
UPDATE: 7:30 a.m.: Columbia Police have confirmed the driver died from his injuries.
A sergeant told ABC 17 News they are not releasing the name of the driver and the crash is under investigation.
This marks the 12th fatality from a traffic crash in Missouri since Friday morning.
ORIGINAL STORY: A portion of Texas Avenue near Providence is closed early Sunday morning after a car crashed into a utility pole.
The car snapped the pole in half and continued driving before coming to a stop at a nearby building.
The driver was the only person in the car. He was taken to the hospital with injuries. There was no field sobriety test done before the patient was taken to the hospital.
Columbia Police are attempting to reconstruct the crash to find out how happened and how.
A City of Columbia Water & Light will keep the street closed until the pole is fixed.
A CPD sergeant on scene told ABC 17 News the only thing holding up the top half of the pole is the tension from the power cables. He said if the tension gives way, the pole can fall down into the street.
