PORTLAND, Ore. — Two women were injured after a driver of a stolen white SUV crashed into a wooden pole in Southeast Portland on Monday, and the pole fell on top of the women.
The crash happened at Southeast 119th Avenue and Clinton Street at about 2:30 p.m.
One of the women, 52-year-old Teresa Hare, was on the sidewalk with her mom when she said something didn't sound right.
"I turned around and looked behind me and I saw that SUV come around the corner really fast," said Hare. "Next thing I know, he punched it and was heading right for us."
The vehicle then crashed, causing the pole to fall on top of Hare and her mom, 80-year-old Fay Ponik, who was in a wheelchair.
"I'm looking at my mom and she's laying backwards in the chair and her head is laying in a funky way and blood is coming from her ear dripping down," Hare said.
The mother and daughter were pinned underneath the pole until help arrived.
"I saw that pole laying on her and I thought I was laying there watching her being crushed to death right before my eyes," Hare said. "And I keep playing that over and and over again in my head, thinking she's going to die right in front of me, and I can't get to her and help her or do nothing."
Hare and her mother were taken to the hospital with injuries police said were minor. But the memory of the pole crashing down is stuck in Hare's mind.
"In the middle of the night last night, I just all of a sudden realized...it could have been so different. It could have fell on my head and squashed me," she said.
Police say three teens ran from the crashed SUV but were later detained.