Easyocr - trying to read text from image but an error is raised

Question

Easyocr is returning an error when trying to readtext:

import os 
import easyocr 
import cv2 
import numpy as np
import logging
from PIL import Image, ImageDraw
import torch

reader = easyocr.Reader(['en'], gpu=False, model_storage_directory='./model')
result = reader.readtext('sign.png')

print(result)

This results in the following error:

Using CPU. Note: This module is much faster with a GPU.
Process finished with exit code -1073741795 (0xC000001D)

I have logged the error to a file with the following results:

2023-11-22 13:58:34,767 - WARNING - Using CPU. Note: This module is much faster with a GPU.
2023-11-22 13:58:42,129 - DEBUG - STREAM b'IHDR' 16 13
2023-11-22 13:58:42,129 - DEBUG - STREAM b'PLTE' 41 192
2023-11-22 13:58:42,129 - DEBUG - STREAM b'IDAT' 245 5333
2023-11-22 13:58:42,130 - DEBUG - STREAM b'IHDR' 16 13
2023-11-22 13:58:42,130 - DEBUG - STREAM b'PLTE' 41 192
2023-11-22 13:58:42,130 - DEBUG - STREAM b'IDAT' 245 5333
2023-11-22 13:58:42,131 - DEBUG - Error closing: Operation on closed image