Columbia, Missouri (KMIZ)
A chase with law enforcement Thursday night resulted in internet outages at some schools in Columbia on Friday.
Two juveniles got into a chase with Boone County sheriff’s deputies and crashed into a utility pole at Vandiver Drive and Oakland Gravel Road, BCSD spokesman Brian Lear said.
Lear said the Columbia Police Department had previously attempted to stop the vehicle twice and that the vehicle had been involved in a previous crash. Officers spotted the vehicle near Thornberry Drive and Oakland Gravel Road and pursued it. No injuries were reported.
Lear said the driver lost control of the vehicle near Oakland Gravel Road near Holly Avenue and struck two utility poles.
Several public schools in Colombia were affected by the internet outage. A City of Columbia spokesperson said the outage was caused by a car accident that struck a utility pole at Vandiver Drive and Oakland Gravel Road Thursday night.
The affected buildings were Battle High School, Battle Elementary School, Two Mile Prairie Elementary School and the district’s transportation facility, according to Chief Communications Officer Michelle Baumstark.
Baumstark said in an email that this is a power outage managed by the city of Columbia and not a district facility.It was restored around 12:30 p.m.
City utility workers told ABC 17 News they were working on a utility pole Friday and the collision affected power and fiber optics in the city.
CPS classes were not affected by the failure. Baumstark said the main impact will be on phones because the system requires the internet to work.
“We have notified families and provided an alternate contact number should families need to contact the school in case of an emergency need,” Baumstark said in an email.
The first alert was sent by the district via text message at 6:25 a.m., stating that the internet was down at bus facilities. The district said bus drivers can still be contacted as they are “operating without internet or phone calls.”
All of the affected schools are located in northeast Columbia, north of Interstate 70.
Columbia Fire Department Precinct 4 is located on Oakland Gravel Road, right next to the accident scene. Firefighters told ABC 17 News they were using backup generators Thursday night into Friday morning due to phone, internet and power outages.
They said things turned around around 10:30 Friday morning.
CFD Deputy Director Jeff Heidenreich said in an email that the only impact was on the department’s landline phone system. “All communications were relayed over the radio system as usual, and mobile communications remained available during the telephone system outage,” he said.
ABC 17 News has reached out to the City of Columbia and the Boone County Sheriff’s Office for more information.
Check back for updates as this story develops.
