NORWICH – At around 7:05 a.m. Monday morning, a red 1999 Jeep Cherokee traveling south on South Broad Street left the right side of the roadway after the driver became distracted and struck a NYSEG utility pole.

Of the four occupants in the vehicle, including two children, a 7-year-old boy was hospitalized with neck injuries and later released. The vehicle’s air bags deployed and no one else was injured in the accident.

The driver of the vehicle, 31-year-old Tishena Parry, was ticketed for moving from the lane unsafely by the Norwich Police Department. Parry said she went to grab a falling cup of coffee from the center console and lost control of the vehicle. Police ruled the accident a result of driver distraction.

The Norwich Fire Department closed down South Broad Street since the accident this morning fearing the utility pole, which has three transformers connected to it, might collapse after being severely damaged in the crash. NYSEG and Frontier Communications personnel expected service and traffic to be restored to normal by 5 p.m. Monday.