Santa sees semi send power lines onto car

Staff report

Youngstown

Santa Claus got more than he bargained for while advertising for pizzas outside Little Milly’s on South Avenue.

Stephen Echols Jr. said he was standing outside the pizzeria dressed as Santa around 2:30 p.m. Friday when a tractor-trailer hit a utility pole behind the business, sending electrical lines onto a car.

“He pulled up in the parking lot across the street and got out of the truck, it looked like to check something,” Echols said. “All of a sudden I heard a big boom, and I ran inside to call 911.”

Sgt. Brian Butler of the Youngstown Police Department said the truck driver parked the vehicle in the parking lot of Rainbow Muffler at the corner of South and Indianola avenues and didn’t properly set the parking brake before he got out.

“He thought the brake was set — it wasn’t — and the truck rolled across into the utility pole,” Butler said.

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