A man rammed into a power pole in Lynnwood, Washington, which came crashing down and burst into flames. Police reports state he was simply distracted, attempting to light a cigarette while staring down at his phone while driving. After endangering the lives of multiple people, the driver was met with harsh criticism from users online.
Fortunately, KOMO News reports that no one was injured in the accident, though many are quite shaken by how careless a driver could be. LPD Officer Sorenson said that the man had a suspended license but was only cited for inattentive driving at the time of the collision. Sorenson added, “We just want people to have their eyes on the road. Just put the cell phone down. It’s not worth anybody’s life or a bad accident.“
Online Users Were Outraged At Both the Driver and the Officer Who Cited Him
It goes without saying that plenty of people were upset with the “distracted” driver’s actions. “I love that our solution for bad drivers is doing nothing to actually prevent them from continuing to drive,” remarked a Redditor, referring to the citation charged. “Could have easily killed someone with that telephone/light pole!” exclaimed another.
One commenter who was understandably most alarmed at what happened was Dudley Jackson, the husband of the woman in the red car ahead of the distracted driver. In the dashcam footage shared, the red car had been rear-ended first before the driver crashed into the pole. “I am very fortunate that I did not lose my wife to this accident,” Jackson wrote on Facebook.
One Reddit user added that the police should also take responsibility for allowing accidents like this to happen due to the lack of serious consequences. “It’s no wonder people keep doing stupid stuff like this. He’s got to be a friend of the officer or the officer was feeling too lazy to do the paperwork,” they remarked.
According to Sorenson, it was up to the officer at the scene to decide on what to charge. However, KOMO News claims that doesn’t mean the driver couldn’t be charged later for his suspended license or phone use while driving.
