DUNGENESS — A 77-year-old Dungeness woman walked away from a dramatic car crash Wednesday afternoon when she lost control of her vehicle while swatting away a bee while driving north on Sequim-Dungeness Way.
Donna Sommer’s newer-model Subaru Outback veered into and severed a power pole, then plummeted down an embankment, where her car came to rest on its side in a thicket of berry brambles about 100 feet south of the Taylor Ranch Road turnoff at about 3 p.m.
Sommer was not cited because the cause of the crash was an act of nature, an investigating deputy said.
“I think she’s already been punished enough, and I think it’s a good opportunity for her husband to get that convertible he’s always wanted,” said Clallam County Sheriff’s Deputy Ralph Edgington, who shared the joke with Sommer’s husband, Trent, who was comforting his wife at the scene.
The crash temporarily stopped and slowed north- and southbound traffic on Sequim-Dungeness Way.
After Clallam County Fire District No. 3 responders extracted her from the car, she was transported by ambulance to Olympic Medical Center for observation.
Sommer, a Brittany Lane Road resident, was not on the admittance list at the hospital early Wednesday night, a supervising nurse said, which likely meant she had been discharged.
Two Good Samaritans, the first to arrive at the wreck, talked to Sommer when she was inside the smashed sport utility vehicle and found her to be responsive but shaken up.
“We were driving home from work, and we saw that pole just hanging there,” said John Allen, with Allen and Charters Construction of Blyn, who was with work partner Joe Elias.
Allen and Elias swung their truck around and drove down to Taylor Ranch Road, where they found the SUV with Sommer inside and called emergency 9-1-1.
“There was absolutely no sound of a skid,” said an Alderwood Drive resident who asked not to be identified.
He added that he did hear the impact of the car hitting the power pole.
“What’s weird is we had someone go off the road last year,” he said.
Power was not affected, and the power pole was repaired Wednesday night, said Mike Howe, Clallam County Public Utility District executive communications coordinator.
The SUV, extensively damaged on its right front fender where it hit the power pole and with its windshield knocked out, was towed away.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
