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Fiery Car Wreck Leaves One Dead

PARADISE TOWNSHIP — State police in Monroe County said one person was killed in a car wreck Thursday morning. Troopers said it happened on Carlton Road ne...

PARADISE TOWNSHIP -- State police in Monroe County said one person was killed in a car wreck Thursday morning.

Troopers said it happened on Carlton Road near Upper Swiftwater Road in Paradise Township around 3 a.m.

The car burst into flames after crashing near the intersection.

Now officials in Monroe County known the identity of the driver, Michael Hayes of Cresco.

State police say one person was inside when he or she ran a stop sign and wrecked near Mount Pocono.

Peter Kocsis says he woke up to emergency crews rushing to the scene   the lights flashing in his bedroom windows.

"I heard a bang. I wasn't sure what it was. It could have been anything, and I went back to bed and around 3 o'clock I heard the sirens and I woke up," Kocsis said.

Troopers say the driver hit a utility pole knocking out power to about 100 homes and businesses

Crews worked for hours to fix the damage at Carlton and Upper Swiftwater Roads.

Kocsis says his phone lines were down all morning and believes the driver was going too fast.

Officials say they didn't even find skid marks.

"It's a shame because this area here has a church, a cemetery. It has a resort and the speed limit here is 45 mph which nobody does."

When the driver struck the utility pole, they were going so fast that they knocked a chunk of it about 50 feet away from the road.

"I'm very surprised, you know, but I know it's kind of wavy, you know? So you just got to take your time when you come down this area," said Winston Campbell of Stroudsburg.

Lyman Winner owns the Frogtown Chophouse just down the road from where the crash happened and lost power for a while and says the driver had to be going way too fast.

"I would assume that the driver had to be really distracted one way or the other to run right through that stop sign and hit it," Winner said.

The coroner says Hayes was burned so badly that his medical records were used identify the him.

Troopers said the investigation will continue.  State Police Swiftwater ask anyone who has information on the crash to call 570-839-7701.

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