The driver of an older-model Chevrolet van, going south on Milwaukie Avenue, was apparently unprepared for the point where the street suddenly angles left to join S.E. 17th, on Tuesday, April 8th.

He rolled up onto an adjacent lawn, then veered into the concrete bollards installed to protect the “Moreland Ale House” from this very thing, and wound up on the sidewalk – so wedged in that the van proved hard to remove.

Responding Central Precinct officers at the scene observed that the vehicle had slid along the sidewalk after flipping onto its side, driver door down – coming to rest against a wooden utility pole, street signs, and several steel-and-concrete bollards.

The driver was taken from the scene by ambulance due to the violent nature of the wreck, and the driver’s apparent injuries.

A tow truck driver hooked up his winch cable to chains, and attached those to the rear frame of the van. But each time he started to winch in the cable, the van stayed put, and his tow truck began to drag towards it!

“Sorry officer, I’ve got to call in a larger tow rig; this [van] is really stuck,” the tow truck operator acknowledged.

With the only potential injury in the accident being suffered by the driver who caused the crash, the officer said that it was unlikely that the unidentified driver would be cited.

Eventually an oversized “big-rig” tow truck managed to remove the van and clear the street.