West Paris crash kills one

WEST PARIS — A Naples man was killed Monday evening on Route 26 when a tractor-trailer loaded with wood chips rolled onto his pickup truck, setting it on fire, Maine State Police Trooper Ron Turnick said.

He identified the man as 60-year-old Richard Ray of Naples. He said Ray was alone in his 1998 Chevrolet as it headed south near 118 Bethel Road about 5 p.m.

Driving the northbound 18-wheeler was Warren Dunning, 41, of 11 Nova St. in Dixfield, Turnick said. He was also traveling alone in a 2007 Volvo registered to Midwest Price Co. of West Paris.

The third driver was identified as Tricia Beretz, 36, of Somerville, Mass., traveling south in her 2008 Acura sedan after a day of skiing at Sunday River in Newry, the trooper said.

The investigator said Beretz told him she dozed off and drifted into the the oncoming lane. She was feeling "extremely tired and thought that she would drive to the next gas station and get a coffee," he said. "That's the last thought she had before she dozed off. And she woke up and was headed toward the rig and attempted to swerve into her lane. Her car got clipped by the tractor-trailer and sent her spinning," he said.

Dunning then lost control of the rig, Turnick said, and drifted left into the oncoming pickup and it hit the trailer," he said.

Ray died on impact, before the rig rolled onto his truck and touched off a fire, he said.

"The pickup was in flames when we arrived," said a somber Paris Fire Chief Brad Frost of the accident that happened south of the Barbara' Chowder Barn. The highway was closed for hours as Maine State Police investigated the accident.

Dunning and Beretz were taken to Stephens Memorial Hospital in Norway to be checked, but neither reported any injuries.

  Jim Brett, 62, of the Gore Road in Otisfield was still shaken Monday night, hours after seeing the accident occur in front of him as he was driving toward home in the southbound lane. He described what he saw.

"I see something strike one of Midwest Price's chip trucks" and the chip truck driver "acted like he lost control," he said. The truck initially veered to the right, then "it came across the (southbound) lane and flipped over and landed on the vehicle in front of me," he said, referring to the pickup.

"There was a car that struck the Midwest Price chip truck," he said. "It was headed south, and it was in front of the pickup truck (that was crushed)."

He said he heard "a bang" and saw the car spinning before it landed in the ditch on the southbound side of the highway.

Brett said he saw an electrical fire underneath the pickup but he did not go near because he started having flashbacks of another fatal crash he witnessed years ago.

"It just brought flashes of that and I had to leave tonight. I just couldn't" go near, he said.

He also realized how close to death he was. "I came close; there was just feet away."

Carlo Berardis of 122 Bethel Road, owner of Barbara's Chowder House at 122 Bethel St., said he was in his driveway about to get into his vehicle when he saw a chip truck from the Midwest Price plant on Route 26 heading northbound.

He said the pickup was heading south trying to pass another car and smashed into the chip truck.

"Normally I don't watch traffic but it sounded like him or her accelerated and was going to pass another car. I heard the boom. I saw sparks and heard the boom," said Berardis, who ran to help the victims after he saw the fully-loaded truck roll over on the pickup truck.

"The driver of the chip truck was yelling and screaming. I got him out of there and got him a blanket. He seemed OK. Then I got a flashlight and looked into the (pickup truck.) The smell was too bad. I let it go," Berardis said.

He said when he got to the pickup truck, which he described as an early 1990s Chevrolet, he found the roof flattened down to the seat of the cab. It was smoldering just before it erupted into flames, he said. The cab of the pickup was filled with chips, he added.

"It was just starting to catch on fire underneath," he said. "I tried everyone. Someone give me a hand. It was so bad it was burning my lungs. I couldn't see inside."

Berardis said he backed off at that point and rescue workers arrived.

"No one was moving. I didn't hear any noise. I called out. It was just a mess, everything," he recalled. "It was flat as a pancake."

According to Berardis, the driver of the chip truck told him that he couldn't avoid the pickup truck. "'I looked up and he was right in front of me. I couldn't get out of his way,'" Berardis said the chip truck driver told him.

Jennifer Boutot of South Paris described the scene when she arrived about 30 to 40 minutes after the crash.

"There's an 18-wheeler that's sitting in the woods," the 36-year-old said. "The pickup truck went through the 18-wheeler. All you can see is the bed."

She said the rig was in the woods and the trailer near the highway, which was strewn with chips.