The crash scene Wednesday evening
/ photo: Alex Dunbar
MEXICO -- A spectacular crash in Mexico injured a man from Pennsylvania and forced some people out of their homes because of a natural gas leak.
For several hours, State Route 104 was closed in both directions between Lincoln Avenue and Route 41. State Police say a trooper saw a stolen vehicle traveling through Mexico a little after 3:30 on Wednesday afternoon. When the trooper attempted to pull the car over, police say 34-year-old Leif T. Adkins from Kinzers, Pennsylvania took off and led the trooper on a high speed chase through the village.
Police say Adkins lost control of his car as he entered the center of the village and struck a guard rail before the car went airborne over a creek. The car finally crash-landed into the Mexico Village Hall on Main Street.
The crash caused a gas line to break and neighbors were evacuated until National Grid was able to turn off the gas supply. Only the village clerk was in the building when the car crashed into it. The village mayor says she was not injured.
Mayor Terry Grimshaw said that the car was traveling so fast that the village was fortunate the crash happened where it did.
"Real scary but the good news is, if he had not hit the building he would have been up through the village, no telling what would have happened then. I'm sure lives would have been lost," said Grimshaw.
Grimshaw said the village hall has structural damage from the crash but the full extent isn't known yet.
Adkins was transported to University Hospital and is expected to survive his injuries. Charges against Adkins are pending.
