Light pole crashes to ground, nearly hits SUV in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood
A light pole came crashing down to the street and almost hit a sport-utility vehicle in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood late Saturday afternoon.
The pole fell at Armitage and Sheffield avenues.
A woman working in the area said the loud noise caught her off guard.
"It was a big bang. It was like, 'Boom!' and I jumped," said Shaqueela Robinson, who works at a Starbucks nearby. "People come this way. They have their kids, everything. A guy was coming over by the Kincade's [bar], and he was turning, and it just hit the back of his car. It missed him literally almost by an inch."
Later Saturday, crews were seen cleaning up the area. CBS News Chicago has reached out to the Chicago departments of Transportation and Streets and Sanitation to find out what caused the pole to fall over.
CBS News Chicago has been exposing decaying light poles and a lack of maintenance going back more than a decade, including numerous reports on light poles that fell because of corrosion.
CBS News Chicago's investigations found thousands of light poles that have not been getting desperately-needed repairs or replacements — leaving serious safety threats in neighborhoods.
In 2024, the Chicago City Council voted to pay $2 million to settle a lawsuit filed by a woman who was hit by a falling light pole in the Loop. The incident happened in 2019, after the light pole had been rusting for years. The woman, Maya Kirk, suffered a concussion, scars, and a shattered femur.
