WARREN — A two-vehicle accident about 10 a.m. Monday left the driver of one car stranded in a post office parking lot and the other driver absent.

Witnesses said a construction vehicle traveling north on Niles Road SE hit a car and a telephone pole before going off the road into a wooded area.

A bystander said that he and a postal worker approached the truck, spoke to a driver, whom he described as “about 6 foot with a beard,” and watched the man get out of the vehicle and run away at the sound of approaching sirens.

In the parking lot of the post office, 2807 Niles Road SE, Greg Copen, 62, a widower, studied the crushed back end of the car that was his wife’s.

“Where he came from, I do not know. All I know is he hit me then the telephone pole,” Copen said.

The impact knocked a wheel off the vehicle. A tow truck driver found the missing wheel on the opposite side of the roadway.

Ohio Edison was called to inspect and briefly repair the damaged utility pole.

Both the abandoned truck and Copen’s car were towed about an hour after the accident.

Traffic was slowed but two residents and fire rescue and police managed to keep traffic flow through one lane throughout the cleanup around 11:30 a.m. Monday.

A police report had not been released Monday night. The identity of the missing driver and whether he had been apprehended also had not been reported.

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