Police say alcohol and speed were factors when the vehicle left the roadway — where it had been traveling south — shortly before noon.

The car struck and demolished a mailbox post before veering into a ditch, spraying adjacent trees with mud as it plunged through undergrowth.

Barely missing several trees and a utility pole, the car traveled about 200 yards before it finally stopped on its side, badly smashed.

With one firefighter inside the upturned vehicle to help the driver, firefighters used extraction equipment to pry metal off of the roof and free the man.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Medical responders move a man injured in a crash south of Birdsong Bay on U.S.-23 South in Alpena Township on Tuesday.

Paramedics from the Alpena Fire Department transported him to MyMichigan Medical Center Alpena with unspecified injuries.

The Alpena County Sheriff’s Office handled the scene, while firefighters from the Alpena Township and Sanborn Township fire departments and a Michigan State Police trooper assisted.

News Photo by Julie Riddle The peeled-down top of a vehicle, turned on its side, indicates extrication efforts by firefighters to remove a man trapped in a vehicle after a crash on U.S.-23 South in Alpena Township.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Alpena County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Michael Lash checks the scene of a crash on U.S.-23 South in Alpena Township on Tuesday.