A black Ford SUV overturned on Comstock Avenue between Marshall Street and Waverly Avenue around 7:50 p.m. Monday. Bystanders rushed to the scene and helped aid the driver and passenger. The driver sustained minor injuries.

Garison Clark, a freshman aerospace engineering major at Syracuse University, was walking up a hill on the Marshall Street side of Haven Hall with two friends when he saw the accident. Clark described the sound as a cross between a ‘bomb and thunder.’

Clark and his friends, Ross Herman and Chris Connolly, saw the vehicle drift three feet to the right as it was driving down Comstock Avenue. The vehicle hit a short, hip-length pole, which acted as a ramp and propelled the vehicle further up. The SUV then brushed against the side of a lamppost located behind a smaller pole, did a 180-degree spin and fell straight back down on its roof, Clark said. Connolly, a freshman nutrition science major, said he saw the top of the lamppost vibrate. A chain linking the smaller pole to another pole snapped and landed approximately 10 feet away.

Clark, Herman and Connolly rushed to the scene of the accident between Kimmel Food Court and Booth parking garage. Clark said two other bystanders arrived at the scene around the same time the three friends arrived. Clark said he dialed 711, the number designated for emergency response at SU.

The male bystander helped the female driver exit the vehicle, Clark said. The driver, who had begun to crawl out of the vehicle on her own, was visibly shaken and incoherent. Clark said the driver reached for her phone.

The occupants of the car declined to comment or identify themselves. Neither occupant was taken to the hospital.

Herman, an undecided freshman in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, said he and his friends began checking the driver for injuries. She had a gash across the crease of her palm and was bleeding from the gum of her mouth, Herman said. Herman grabbed a water bottle from the vehicle and helped wash out the driver’s cuts, he said. The passenger appeared to be in better condition and was able to describe what happened, he said.

The friends waited with the driver and passenger until responders from the Syracuse Police Department, Rural/Metro and the Department of Public Safety, among others, arrived on the scene.

As of 1:20 a.m. Tuesday, DPS had no further information about the accident. 

The SUV’s sunroof smashed against the street, leaving glass shards in the road. The passenger side of the vehicle was heavily scraped, and the hood was also dented and scraped. Two DPS vehicles blocked off Comstock between Marshall and Waverly during the clean up while dozens of passers-by snapped photos.

Towers from John’s Auto Body arrived at 8:26 p.m. and began removing the vehicle and clearing the site. After being turned right-side up, the rim of the passenger side tire jutted out and scraped against the road as the vehicle was being dragged onto the flatbed. The accident site was cleared by approximately 9:07 p.m.

dbtruong@syr.edu

Published on September 5, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Debbie: dbtruong@syr.edu | @debbietruong