Reported by Deborah McDermott, Seacoastonline.com
June 23, 2010 2:00 AM
ELIOT, Maine — A two-car accident at the intersection of Route 236 and Beech Street sent two people to the hospital Tuesday morning and caused traffic to be diverted around the scene for at least an hour.
Three people are recovering from serious injuries after a head-on crash Monday morning in Paris. Police say a car heading north on Route 119 crossed the center line and collided with a pickup truck heading south. Driver Justin Rolfe, 26, of Paris and his passenger, Donavan Stevens, 26, of Hebron were listed in stable condition Monday night after Rolfe’s car crossed the center line on Route 119 in Paris on Monday morning and hit a truck, police Lt. Michael Dailey said. Terence Bean, 51, of Paris, was the driver of the truck.
A police investigation is underway. As personal injury specialists, Peter Thompson & Associates has investigated hundreds of accidents. In almost all cases, the primary and secondary causes of collisions are disputed, resulting in the need for a comprehensive accident reconstruction. While police will often conduct an accident reconstruction, we find it frequently necessary to conduct more detailed investigations of accident scenes to determine who was at fault. Because important evidence that will be necessary to provide the most accurate investigation is often lost as time passes, it is critical that a comprehensive accident reconstruction occur as soon as possible and that all witnesses to the accident are interviewed to preserve their recollections.
Police on Tuesday identified the Rochester motorcyclist dealt life threatening injuries in Saturday’s accident on Route 11 as Robert Lingard, 46, who remains in serious condition at Maine Medical Center.
Sgt. Jay Drury also identified the 18-year-old New Durham man driving the pickup truck that collided with Lingard’s motorcycle as John Chamberlin.
The accident remains under investigation.
A 46-year-old Rochester resident riding a motorcycle on Route 11 was airlifted to Maine Medical Center in Portland with life threatening injuries Saturday after colliding with a pickup truck.
Police Cpl. Mike McNeil said authorities are not releasing the names of those involved, pending notification of next of kin.
He confirmed the age and hometown of the motorcyclist and said the driver of the other vehicle, a white GMC Sierra pickup, is an 18-year-old from New Durham.
According to police reports, Wayne Turcotte, 24, who is believed to have been the driver of the 1999 Volkswagen car that crashed on Lyford Road. A passenger in the vehicle, Shane Stone, 24, of Orneville, was taken by ambulance to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. He suffered serious head injuries, Emerson said.
Mr. Stone has a potential claim against Mr. Turcotte’s insurance company and may have an additional claim for any underinsured motorist coverage he or a family member has.
This accident is under investigation.
A South Berwick man was indicted Wednesday by the Penobscot County grand jury in the Jan. 30 hit-and-run death of a University of Maine student in Orono.
Garrett Cheney, 22, was indicted on charges of manslaughter, aggravated criminal operating under the influence of intoxicants, leaving the scene of an accident that resulted in serious bodily injury, and criminal operating under the influence of intoxicants.
He is scheduled to be arraigned at the Penobscot Judicial Center on May 20.
A three-vehicle accident at Minot Avenue and High Street just before noon Wednesday resulted in injuries to some of the drivers involved. Police said Eric Zitoli, 34, of Andover was driving a GMC truck and hauling a trailer when it collided with a van driven by Ashleigh Barker, 28, of Auburn. The collision caused Zitoli’s trailer to whip around and strike a Toyota driven by Yvonne Wilcox, 57, of Auburn. Wilcox suffered injuries, police said.
The cause of this accident is under investigation. As personal injury specialists, Peter Thompson & Associates has investigated hundreds of accidents. In almost all cases, the primary and secondary causes of collisions are disputed, resulting in the need for a comprehensive accident reconstruction. While police will often conduct an accident reconstruction, we find it frequently necessary to conduct more detailed investigations of accident scenes to determine who was at fault. Because important evidence that will be necessary to provide the most accurate investigation is often lost as time passes, it is critical that a comprehensive accident reconstruction occur as soon as possible and that all witnesses to the accident are interviewed to preserve their recollections.
58-year-old Joanne Polvinen was pronounced dead at the scene of the second accident in Lewiston on Saturday night. Her car had crossed the center line and crashed into another vehicle. Police say that 15 minutes before that accident, Polvinen, who was driving with a suspended license, crashed into a car in a cul-de-sac in Lewiston and fled the scene.
Police are looking for the driver of what is believed to be a pick-up truck or SUV that killed Jordyn Bakley, a 20 year-old University of Maine student, in Orono. It is believed that the vehicle that struck Ms. Bakley is a 2003-2007 Chevrolet and has front-end damage resulting from the collision. Anyone with information about this hit-and-run should contact the Orono Police Department.
An 83-year-old woman and a toddler were taken to a local hospital with minor injuries Friday after a head-on collision on Old County Road. Mike Cole, 39, of Thomaston was driving a 2005 Chevrolet Cavalier south over packed snow, formed by “drifting and constant traffic,” when he lost control on a curve and slid into the northbound lane, according to Sgt. Mike Janczura of the Thomaston Police Department. Jean Lorenzen, 83, of Thomaston, who was coming in the opposite direction in a 2004 Nissan Sentra, swerved to the right to avoid a crash, but the two cars hit head-on.
At this time, there is limited information on the cause of the crash. At Peter Thompson & Associates, we have investigated thousands of car crashes utilizing the very best experts in the field. It will be critical to conduct a timely investigation to preserve evidence at the accident scene and to record witness recollections of the events.
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