Plane flown by 18-year-old was pulling a banner before running out of fuel
By Jason Colthorp - Reporter , Dustin Block - web producer , John Steckroth - Digital news editor Posted: 9:12 PM, June 27, 2016 Updated: 11:19 PM, June 27, 2016
DETROIT - A small airplane made an emergency landing Monday night on Shoemaker Street in Detroit.
Images showed the plane resting on its nose in a city street. It took down some power lines landing in the eastside Detroit neighborhood.
The landing occurred at around 9 p.m.
According to police, the 18-year-old pilot was alone in the plane was not injured in the landing. He ran out of gas and was forced to make an emergency landing.
"I was walking up the street here, and then all of a sudden, a plane was just a little too low and it actually hit poles and a wire here," witness Dondra Mainor said.
Witnesses said the plane was silent, but there was a boom when the transformers blew.
"The pilot -- 18 years old -- was a banner plane that was flying over the fireworks area," Detroit Police Chief James Craig said. "He was forced to land when he ran out of fuel and in doing so he hit some overhead lines."
A woman was hit by a live wire and was shocked. She was taken to the hospital and is in serious condition.
"I look over there and that's when I saw the lady hit by the wire and she was on the ground," witness Davion Dearman said. "The man in the plane, he jumped out and ran over here with us. They did CPR on her and she came back because they put her on the stretcher and hooked her up to the breathing machine."
The plane was pulling a banner and cut the banner loose before landing. The pilot was taken to the hospital as a precaution.
Witnesses reported smelling fuel at the scene, and there are concerns about live wires down.
The area is closed off as DTE crews repair wires.
Here's where the crash landing occurred:
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