A van crashed into a telephone pole and down into a ditch, leaving the driver entrapped in the vehicle in Clarksville.

Crews were called to the area of 950 Clarksville South Rd just after 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 12.

“We arrived to a cargo van on its passenger side in the ditch,” according to Chief Mike Salisbury of the Onesquethaw Fire Department.

The vehicle struck a telephone and completely sheared the pole in half, leaving the top half hanging by the wires.

Chief Salisbury says it appears the driver traveled 250 feet from where he exited the roadway to where he landed.

“It doesn’t appear that it rolled,” he said. “It kicked sideways when he blew through the telephone pole.”

He says there were various miscellaneous carpenter tools that were inside the vehicle.

Information was received that the driver was reported to be pinned between the dashboard and the roof of the vehicle.

Onesquethaw units began closing the road and stabilizing the vehicle to prevent it from rolling.

Slingerlands Fire was dispatched to assist with extrication.

The passenger side seat was removed in order to extricate the patient, according to a post on the Slingerlands Fire Department Facebook page.

“The patient was backboarded and removed out the rear of the vehicle with assistance from firefighters and EMS personnel on scene,” the post said.

Chief Salisbury says the extrication was lengthy and took approximately 25 minutes.

Clarksville South Road was closed between Delaware Turnpike and Derbyshire Road while crews were on scene.

Assisting on scene with fire was Onesquethaw EMS, Albany County Paramedics and Albany County Sheriff’s.

There was only one occupant inside the vehicle.

The extent of injuries nor condition of the patient were not known at the time of report.