A pickup driver crashed his truck into this telephone pole on Idaho-Maryland Road, severing it Saturday. (Photo by John Hart)

A man who severed a telephone pole with his pickup at Idaho-Maryland Road and Sutton Way early Saturday morning was cited for drunken driving and probation violation.

Jamie Emmanuel Sauceda, 23, was cited at Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital, where he was taken by police following the 2 a.m. crash. A nursing supervisor said Sauceda was treated and released.

Before the accident, sheriff's deputies had been pursuing a pickup, allegedly driven by Sauceda, westbound on Highway 49 to the Brunswick Road exit, Nevada County Sheriff's Sgt. Jeff Glover said. The pickup was traveling over the speed limit, Glover said.

When the pickup accelerated, the deputies reined in their chase in the interest of safety, Glover said.

A short time later, deputies arrived at the scene of a wreck, where Grass Valley Police were on the scene.

The pickup caught fire, and Sauceda escaped through the passenger side, said Randall Gross, a Nevada County Consolidated Fire District engineer.

The fire was quickly extinguished, and no power lines were downed, said Gross. Idaho-Maryland Road was closed, and Pacific Gas & Electric Co. was notified, he added.

The road remained closed after 3 a.m., when firefighters left the scene.

Neither PG&E nor Grass Valley police could be reached Sunday night.

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