Power Out, Businesses Closed After Car Strikes Utility Pole Saturday

The scene early Saturday morning in Lafayette Square. (Video capture from witness, used with permission.)

(Photograph courtesy of Haverhill Police.)

(Photograph courtesy of Haverhill Police.)

Lafayette Square was closed to traffic, electricity was out and businesses closed most of the day Saturday after a car struck a utility pole and burst into flames.

The vehicle was apparently being pursued by police around 2:30 a.m., Saturday, down Broadway and into Lafayette Square when it struck the utility pole near Phaneuf Insurance, 123 Lafayette Square, according to Fire Chief William F. Laliberty. He theorized the car hydroplaned while negotiating the corner and slid into the pole.

“It was quite the coordinated effort to put the pole together and get the infrastructure back in place,” the chief said. He believes the fire began from the car’s gasoline coming into contact with the hot engine.

Haverhill Police reopened the square to traffic just before 7 p.m., Saturday night.

The condition of the driver was not immediately known.

5 thoughts on “Power Out, Businesses Closed After Car Strikes Utility Pole Saturday

  1. folks, fire chief bill laliberty is as good as they come. ask any firefighter, police officer or city official. he is always on the job. smart, courageous and a strong leader.

    • Sorry Buster, your friend the chief is a thief! He knowingly and intentionally conspired with 29 other thieves in the HFD to steal over $54,000 from Haverhill taxpayers. That’s not my opinion, that’s a fact. In the real world outside of corrupt fire and police unions he would have been fired immediately and gone to jail for the felony he committed. He not only intentionally stole money while an employee of the city, he possibly put lives in danger for not taking the mandatory training required by the State of Massachusetts. But in Haverhill, where you know better than most, the mayor needs puppets to do what he says without questions. Laliberty’s punishment for committing felony theft and putting lives in danger? He got a promotion…….

  2. Some folks blame the police when this happens. Imagine ? Two weeks ago a young man died when fleeing form police on Rt 110. Why risk your life over small things ? Makes no sense at all.

  3. Can we EVER get a full reporting of an issue from this FELON Fire Chief?

    Why was the car being pursued by police? This is what you get when the mayor has the ability to appoint incompetent hacks to be his puppet. Laliberty is a thieving hack who intentionally stole over $1,800.00 from Haverhill taxpayers by falsifying EMT documents stating he took State of Massachusetts required training which he never actually took. And now here he is talking about the efforts of utility workers and completely ignoring informing the public about more crime in the city.

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