Off-duty officer saves woman in downed-line incident

An off-duty Porterville Police officer was the first on the scene of Saturday’s collision in which one vehicle wound up slamming into a power pole, knocking it and live power lines down in the street.

A witness told The Recorder that the officer responded after hearing the crash. The witness said he pulled the disoriented woman out of her vehicle. He then checked to be sure residents of the home on West Morton Avenue were not injured and directed traffic until other officers arrived.

The collision caused two small explosions and knocked out power to much of the western end of town. The incident began about 11:30 a.m. Saturday.