A pickup truck took out Brookfield’s electronic sign on the green in Brookfield Center Saturday evening.
The driver was taken to a hospital by Brookfield Fire-Rescue.
Bridget Hiner, a motorist who checked on the driver, said he was talking and had blood on his arm.
Brookfield police were investigating.
The pickup was northbound on Route 7, on the east side of the green, when it went off the road to the left through the green’s parking lot and hit the sign from behind, throwing it forward and knocking over the brick pillars that held it.
promoFirefighters, with help from township Trustee Dan Suttles, cut power to the green, including the Christmas tree in the gazebo, in case the ground might be electrified by the cut cable to the sign.
Bridget and Austin Hiner were driving eastbound on Warren Sharon Road.
“I seen him when he hit the sign,” Bridget Hiner said. “I heard the big bang and saw the sign being taken out.”
The sign might have prevented the truck from going into traffic at Route 7 and Warren Sharon Road, she said.
“He might have gotten us,” she said.
Suttles, who was called about the accident shortly after it happened, said his concern was for the driver.
“I just hope whoever it was from the vehicle is OK,” he said.
He said he believes the sign is insured.
The sign was installed in October 2018 with grant funding from AEP Energy and the Strimbu, O’Brien and Kirila foundations. It replaced a changeable copy sign that had been there for years. The sign was the first project completed of five chosen for the grant program.