Hwy. 9 Traffic Mess Caused By Runaway Teen Driver

State Highway 9 is expected to remain closed in the Ben Lomond area until about 8 p.m. Tuesday because of a crash in which a car struck a power pole early in the morning, according to the California Department of Transportation.

The crash, reported to the California Highway Patrol at 4:33 a.m. near Glen Arbor Road, downed the utility pole and knocked out power to 2,429 people, PG&E spokeswoman Monica Tell said.

Caltrans sent a crew to assist PG&E in clearing the roadway of power lines, Caltrans spokesman Colin Jones said.

The driver of the car was a 17-year-old boy whose family had reported him missing to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office about a week ago, CHP spokeswoman Officer Sarah Jackson said.

After the early morning crash, the boy called his father, who picked him up and took him to their home in the San Lorenzo Valley area, Jackson said.

No one was injured in the accident, which is still under investigation. No arrests had been made as of late Tuesday morning, she said.

During the closure, traffic is being diverted onto upper and lower Glen Arbor Road, Jackson said.

Power was restored to those affected by the outage by about 9 a.m., according to PG&E.

—Bay City News