Eyewitness describes ‘horrific’ crash that killed 2, injured 2

Two people were killed and two others suffered life-threatening injuries in a car accident shortly after midnight Monday.

The driver and a front-seat passenger died when a vehicle crashed into a traffic control pole, according to Maricopa police.

The car was traveling northbound on State Route 347 from the Harrah’s AK-Chin Hotel and Casino area when the driver accelerated while approaching Farrell Road and lost control, with the vehicle striking the pole, police said.

Two people in the back seat were taken by ambulance to Chandler Regional Hospital with life-threatening injuries, police said.

The names of the dead and injured were withheld by police pending notification of their  families. No additional information about the accident has been released since early Monday morning.

But an eyewitness to the crash described the grim scene.

“He was ahead of me,” said the eyewitness who was driving behind the car, which she believed was a Chrysler 300 or similarly-sized car, and watched it strike the pole at a high rate of speed. “He just punched it … and drove right into the pole.”

“They were going very fast. There were no brakes. It looked to me like he was trying to rush the light or run the light.”

The eyewitness, who asked not to be identified, pulled over and ran to the scene to offer assistance, but the car was so mangled there was little to do other than call 911, telling the operator to send multiple ambulances, and try to reassure the occupants.

“The driver was still alive, and he was begging me to get him out of there,” said the eyewitness, adding that he looked to be in his mid-30s.

The driver’s hand was visible out the window, “the engine literally sitting on his stomach,” the eyewitness said.

The front-seat passenger, a woman, was already dead from her traumatic injuries, the witness said.

A woman in the backseat, who looked like she was in her 40s, told the eyewitness she thought her back was broken. She managed to open her door and the eyewitness told her not to move.

Another person was in the backseat, but the eyewitness could not tell if it was a male or female. That victim didn’t say anything.

“I literally felt totally helpless,” said the eyewitness. “It was just horrific.”

This morning, two candles could be seen next to the pole, which showed a significant dent from the impact.