A deputy says the driver swerved to avoid hitting a deer.
By Jim Smedley
Staff Writer

WEST PARIS – An overturned tractor-trailer hauling wood blocked Route 26 for 30 minutes and reduced traffic to one lane for four hours on Friday.

Oxford County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Chancey Libby said the driver, Scott A. McKissick, 30, of Houlton, received a possible sprained ankle. McKissick was treated and released by Stephens Memorial Hospital.

Libby estimated damage to the truck, a 1996 Western Star, to be about $100,000.

Libby said McKissick swerved to the right to miss a deer when he was just past the Woodstock-West Paris town line. He then went off the road into the road shoulder.

“He said he could see in his side mirror that the weight of the truck was starting to roll it, so he jerked the wheel to bring it down,” Libby said. “But it was too little, too late.”

McKissick was traveling southbound to the chip mill in West Paris. Libby said he could not determine if speed was a factor in the rollover.

“I gave him some helpful advice,” Libby said. “I told him to hit the deer next time. He would have done less damage.”

McKissick was driving for Colin Bartlett & Son of Orient.

Libby said most of the truck lay across the southbound lane and most of the logs were dumped into a nearby ditch, some on the road.

Libby said another logger, Sam Walsh, was driving by and offered to remove the logs, then did so. “He cleaned up the mess by loading the logs onto his truck,” Libby said. “I contacted the company, and they said he were going to pay him.”

Libby said Commercial Motor Vehicle did and inspection of the truck and issued a summons for a minor log violation and lack of internal head space in the cab.