Meeting Street re-opened after wreck near Market

Meeting Street near Market is back open after a wreck closed the street about an hour this morning.

A man was hospitalized with minor injuries after he crashed his car into a tree along Meeting Street north of Market.

The single-car accident occurred at about 11 a.m. The driver of the vehicle was taken to Medical University hospital with minor injuries, according to Charleston police spokesman Charles Francis. The driver was the only one in the car, he said.

Rose Marie Reese of Richmond, VA. was walking on Meeting after breakfast when she heard tires screeching and saw the car overturned after it smashed into the tree.

“It was like ‘Oh my God. How did that happen when this is such a slow street?’” she said.

Alex Henry, of Charleston, said the crash could be heard as far as Washington Park on Broad and Meeting streets.

“This could have been tragic,” Henry said.

Police would not say what caused the man to veer into the tree, which was leaning sideways after the crash. City workers used a chainsaw to cut its branches down and remove the tree.

It did not cause any damage to the building, owned by Charleston Place Hotel. A small portion of the intersection was closed to traffic for about an hour.