Thane Grauel

tgrauel@lohud.com

VALHALLA – A woman was killed early Friday when her SUV hit a stone wall and then crashed roof-first into a utility pole on Columbus Avenue.

Police identified her as Alexandra Turcsanyi, 40, but did not have her home address. She was pronounced dead at the scene of the 4:10 a.m. crash.

She was driving a 2005 Honda Pilot south on Columbus Avenue when the vehicle left the road and struck a utility pole, police said. The roof was crushed into the front seats and the pole snapped in the crash near Locust Street.

Lt. Mike Pierce asked any witnesses to call Mount Pleasant detectives at 914-769-1941.

Valhalla firefighters responded.

Peter Ball was sleeping in an upstairs bedroom a couple of dozen feet from crash. He called police and, by the time he got outside, two officers were already there.

It was clear nothing could be done for the woman, Ball said.

"There were no screeching brakes," he told The Journal News. "She hit the fence of the neighbor to the north, then the telephone pole roof-first. I hope she was asleep and never knew what happened."

He pointed to a large stone in his yard that had been part of the neighbor's stone wall, thrown about 40 feet.

Electricity was cut off to about 100 customers as a Consolidated Edison crew used the arm of a pole-digging truck to secure the snapped pole, which was held up only by the wires.

The accident occurred across the street from Valhalla United Methodist Church, where the town of Mount Pleasant holds a summer camp. Pierce said camp would be held but drop-off would be via Westlake Drive.

The woman was "heavily entrapped" in the wreckage, Fire Chief Dan Lester said.

It took responders about four hours to secure the pole, right the SUV then cut it open to remove Turcsanyi, police said.

The pole the woman struck had a circular yellow sign with black lettering that reads "Slow down!" Ball, the neighbor, said several of the signs were put up after the road over the Kensico Dam was closed to traffic and more drivers started using Columbus instead, many of them speeding. The speed limit is 30 mph.

Staff writer Terence Corcoran contributed to this report.

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