Utility workers working on a pole damaged in an accident at 17 Mile and White Creek Avenue Tuesday. Post photo by J. Reed.

A crash at the intersection of 17 Mile and White Creek Tuesday morning smashed a utility pole and sent one couple to the hospital to be checked out.
According to Cedar Springs Police Sergeant Ed Good, a man driving a Chevy pickup truck was headed east on 17 Mile Road about 9:27 a.m. Tuesday, January 10, when he failed to stop at the light, and slammed into the passenger side of a SUV that was southbound on White Creek. As a result of the impact, the SUV lost a tire and smashed a utility pole at the southeast corner of the intersection, while the pickup spun around and landed facing west.
Cedar Springs Fire Chief Marty Frasier was having breakfast nearby and was first on the scene. He said that all airbags deployed, and that the older couple in the SUV walked to the BP Gas station and were met there by ambulance. They were taken to the hospital to be checked out but there didn’t appear to be any injuries to them or the driver of the pickup.
“Their complaints were mostly irritation and soreness caused by the airbags,” explained Sgt. Good. “That just goes to show what seatbelts and airbags can do.”
The driver of the pickup was identified as Cory Matthew Baerwalde, 21, of Lowell. The driver of the SUV was Nina Schuler, 70, of Cedar Springs, and her passenger was her husband, Richard Schuler, 73.
The accident caused the traffic lights to go out at the intersection, and Consumers Energy was on the scene to repair the damage.