Pregnant woman hospitalized after Cedar Rapids crash

One person was taken to the hospital after a van crashed into a utility pole Wednesday morning on a residential street in Cedar Rapids.

Jessica Mullen, 20, of Cedar Rapids, was taking her boyfriend to work around 7 a.m. when she struck the wooden pole in the 2000 block of E Avenue NE. They had just left home a few minutes earlier.

"Just looked down for a second, and hit the pole," said her boyfriend, 25-year-old Brian Howell.

Mullen was taken by ambulance to St. Luke's Hospital as a precaution because she is 13 weeks pregnant, Howell and police said.

The wreck splintered the bottom of the pole and knocked off a street lamp, which shattered on the street. Power lines remained intact, and an Alliant Energy worker was checking to see if the pole would need to be replaced.