WEST GREENWICH — An unknown good Samaritan helped two small children out of a car after their father apparently fell asleep at the wheel and struck a utility pole off Nooseneck Hill Road yesterday morning, the police said.

Thomas Macchio, 36, of West Greenwich, was driving southbound near the Coventry line in his Toyota Corolla when the car slowly veered off the road, across a grassy ditch and into the pole at about 10:30 a.m., the police said.

The impact snapped the pole at the base but it remained suspended by its power and telephone wires. Then a transformer on the pole exploded and a passing motorist stopped and got the children out of the car, the police said. The motorist then drove off.

Macchio was treated at Rhode Island Hospital, and the children — described as an infant and a toddler — were treated at Hasbro Children’s Hospital. None was seriously hurt, according to Police Chief Ronald Lapre.

Lepre said some businesses in the area lost power. Repair crews from National Grid and Verizon responded, he said.