Early morning sunshine caused two drivers to crash into light poles in the Powell High School parking lot on Thursday, police say.

The trouble began around 7:30 a.m., when a 17-year-old student attempted to exit the lot in his 1994 Chevy pickup. The high schooler was watching another vehicle that was entering the lot, but “due to the sun that morning, he didn’t see a light pole and ran into it,” said Powell Police Sgt. Matt McCaslin.

The 17-year-old was not wearing his seat belt and suffered injuries, McCaslin said. He was taken to Powell Valley Hospital, treated and later released.

“When you’re in a large vehicle, even at slow speeds, when they come to an abrupt stop without your seat belt on, it’s still pretty easy to sustain injuries,” McCaslin said, explaining that, “the vehicle stops, but your body doesn’t.”

The teen received a citation for failing to wear his seat belt.

Meanwhile, PHS teacher Vin Cappiello saw that the teenager had crashed and began heading over to offer assistance, the sergeant said. However, “again, because of the sun, [he] did not see a light pole and ran into it,” McCaslin said.

Cappiello’s 2017 Subaru sustained “quite a bit of damage,” he said, but the teacher was not injured.

— By CJ Baker