A North Apollo woman was killed Wednesday night after the car she was driving hit a utility pole in Apollo and flipped over several times.
Coroner Brian Myers identified the woman as Jacqueline C. Hellein, 64. She was traveling alone and died at the scene. She was not wearing a seatbelt.
Myers said the cause of death was blunt force trauma to head and chest.
When neighbors heard what sounded like an explosion about 8:20 p.m., they rushed out of their houses into the middle of North Warren Avenue to investigate. They saw the car on its roof.
“The car was still running. I yelled and yelled. There was no answer,” said Jody Bowersox, a lifelong Apollo resident who knows CPR because she is a pre-school teacher. “I said a prayer.”
Across the street, Fish Bowl pet store owner Brenda Troup said she saw a bright light and heard what sounded like an explosion.
“At first I saw the telephone pole out front of my store. Then I saw the car,” she said.
Apollo Patrolman Ron Baustert said Hellein was driving a 2011 Kia Optima north on North Warren when the car for unknown reason it went off the road, sheered the utility pole and pushed it 20 feet to the side in front of the pet store.
The car rolled several times before coming to a stop on its roof about 100 feet from pole. Myers said Hellein was not wearing a seat belt; she died from blunt force trauma to the head and chest.
An electric transformer rested inside the hole where the pole had been installed. Police and rescue crews at first were leery of utility lines draping the car.
North Warren Avenue is posted at 25 mph speed limit, but police didn’t not say how fast Hellein was traveling.
Myers said toxicology and other tests will be done; the death remains under investigation.
