Having Four Wheel Drive Didn't Really Help

Mark Pawlik, 46, was walking across the North Ave. bridge and talking to his friend on the phone when he noticed a traffic light had sunk into the ground.

Just the red, yellow and green lights were above street level. He told his friend he'd call him back. It was still pouring rain, but he wanted to stop and take a picture.

A moment later a man driving a black Escalade pulled up to the intersection at North and Oakland avenues, going east on North Ave.

"The Escalade just went wham!" Pawlik said. "Everything went down. The power line went like 'pow' and then I think it was sewer water was just pouring into the hole."

Pawlik leaned over the edge of the sinkhole, which was then about 15 feet by 15 feet.

"I said, 'Hey, man, are you OK, are you OK?' "

Pawlik said the man kept saying, "What happened? What just happened?"

The driver pulled himself onto the hood and then fell down into the hole. He pulled himself back up onto the hood, and Pawlik took his hand and then his belt loop to get him out of the hole. He said he was the only person in the car.

By that time, several people had gathered around the edge of the hole.

Pawlik could see that the ground had given way beneath the asphalt and yelled at people to get back.

Pawlik said he and several others tried to reach 911 but got busy signals, so a few people flagged down a city bus and asked the driver to call in the emergency.

Police arrived and put emergency tape up, and an ambulance took the driver of the Escalade away.

Pawlik, who owns a towing company, said the hole was about 20 feet deep.