LEWISTON – A Hurricane Katrina victim living in Lewiston after losing everything last month became a victim again Saturday, when the van she was driving was struck in a spectacular crash.
As a result of the crash, which spun the Mississippi woman’s van around, the other vehicle caught fire and turned into “a fireball,” Lewiston police said.
“No one got hurt, which is surprising. Someone could have got hurt,” said Lewiston Police Officer Matthew Cashman.
The couple in the car that caught fire got out immediately. Neither they nor Judy O’Brien Beck, 42, and her 13-year-old son, Billy-Joe Beck, required medical treatment, Cashman said. But the crash was upsetting.
“Beck was a wreck,” Cashman said. “She couldn’t drive away, she was so upset. Her life is miserable right now.”
The crash happened around 2:30 p.m. Saturday as a Ford driven by Ahmed W. Abdi, 48, of Park Street, Lewiston, was coming down Chestnut Street and ran a stop light, police said. Abdi told police his brakes failed, Cashman said.
Abdi’s vehicle struck Beck’s van, which was headed in the opposite direction on Lisbon Street. The impact spun the van around.
Meanwhile Abdi’s Ford ran into, and took down, a traffic light pole, and sheared a fire hydrant. “The pole actually went through the window of Dube Travel,” Cashman said. “The car burst into flames. It was a fireball.”
Abdi and a woman passenger scrambled out. The Lewiston Fire Department extinguished the blaze, but the Ford was totaled. The fire also charred a tree in front of Dube Travel, Cashman said.
When Hurricane Katrina hit last month, Beck lived four miles inland from the coast, but lost her home and all her possessions from a tidal surge. “She said, What else can go wrong?'” Cashman said. Beck, who has family in the area, is staying at the Ramada Inn in Lewiston, police said.
Beck’s van was damaged, but was still drivable after Lewiston Police Sgt. James Minkowsky got her a new rim and tire so she’d have transportation.
“We’re here to help,” Cashman said.
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