Crane Knocks Out Power to 800 in Universal City

A construction crane accidentally knocked down several power lines that narrowly missed an RTD bus Wednesday, interrupting power to 800 customers in the Universal City area, authorities said.

There were no injuries in the 4:30 p.m. accident in the 4100 block of Cahuenga Boulevard, said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Jim Wells.

The passengers and driver of the bus got off the vehicle without incident, Wells said.

Ed Freudenberg, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Deparment of Water and Power, said service to the 800 residential and commercial customers was restored an hour after the accident. Utilities workers were trying late Wednesday to restore power to a sewage pumping plant nearby, Freudenberg said. He was not certain when that would be done.

Details of the accident were sketchy, but Freudenberg said that the crane belonged to a movie crew that had been filming in the area at the time of the accident.