SUV Flips Over on Clifton Boulevard, Stops Traffic for Two Hours

 A crash on Clifton Boulevard sent one man to the hospital and closed one of Lakewood's busiest streets for almost two hours Saturday night.

A man, driving a Jeep Cherokee, apparently lost control of his vehicle around 6:40 p.m. while turning westbound onto Clifton Boulevard from Nicholson Avenue. 

He crashed into the tree lawn, toppling a utility pole and pulling a fire hydrant out of the ground before flipping and landing on a parked vehicle. He was the only person involved in the crash.

A Lakewood police officer said the man was taken to a nearby hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, but the would not release details about the man’s identity, age or the cause of the crash.

Pieces of the crashed vehicle were strewn all over the street, along with chunks of the shredded utility pole. Contents from the vehicle were scattered across the tree lawn. 

Traffic was detoured south on side streets to Detroit Avenue while crews worked until around 8:30 p.m. to cleanup the crash. 

Judith Desilets, a resident on Clifton Avenue, owns the Ford Escape where the overturned vehicle landed.

“We heard a loud bang,” she said. “It was loud enough that it made me jump.”

 Desilets said the damage to her vehicle wasn’t as bad as she thought, but it’s still too early to tell.

 “I hope (the driver) wasn’t hurt too bad,” she added.