FARMINGTON —  Police say a diabetic “episode” caused a Jay woman to drive erratically before going off the road and hitting a pole Thursday morning on the Fairbanks Road.

A car driven by Meghan Gerdin, 28, of Jay hit a curbing in front of 269 Fairbanks Road, went up on the lawn, went through a raised rock garden and traveled about 150 feet before crashing into a telephone pole.

Gerdin’s daughter Grace, 6, was in a car seat and was not injured.  Both were taken to Franklin Memorial Hospital by NorthStar ambulance to be checked, Farmington police Sgt. Peter Barton said at the scene.

By midafternoon, Gerdin had been treated and released, according to an FMH spokesman.

Prior to the crash, police got a reported that Gerdin’s vehicle was being operated erratically. She apparently went into an opposite lane on the Wilton Road then went up on a sidewalk in downtown Farmington as she traveled north through town, he said.

Steven Look of New Vineyard and passenger Christy Christopher were in a vehicle behind Gerdin on the Fairbanks Road when he saw her vehicle go into the air as it hit the curbing, Look said.

Both certified nursing assistants, they said Gerdin was conscious but confused when they got to her car. Her daughter wanted to get out of the vehicle as the airbag dust covered the inside and steam from the radiator made the vehicle appear to be on fire, Look said.

Deputy Sandy Burke from the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department was downtown and started up the Fairbanks Road to find the erratic driver and came on to the accident scene.

Gerdin was driving 2002 Dodge Stratus and Barton estimated damage at about $3,000. 

abryant@sunjournal.com

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