The crash injured the daughter of District 17 state Sen. Chandler Woodcock.
FARMINGTON – A Wilton woman was charged with operating under the influence after her Jeep crossed the center line Sunday night and hurtled head-on into a car traveling in the opposite direction.
Lynne Sue Buchheit, 44, was driving a 1995 Cherokee west on the Wilton Road in front of the J.J. Nissan Bakery outlet store when she crossed into the eastbound lane. She smashed “almost exactly head-on” into a 1998 Honda driven by 24-year-old Sarah Woodcock of Farmington, Lt. Jack Peck of the Farmington Police Department said.
Buchheit’s SUV then rolled onto its roof.
Woodcock and her passenger, Matthew Reynolds, 25, were both wearing seat belts but were taken to the emergency room at Franklin Memorial Hospital with complaints of chest pains and possible broken leg bones, respectively.
Woodcock, the daughter of District 17 Republican state senator and Skowhegan school teacher Chandler Woodcock and Franklin Health Access Project Director Charlie Woodcock, was treated and released that evening, according to Jill Gray of FMH.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Reynolds was still at the hospital in stable condition, Gray added.
Buchheit was taken to the hospital with minor abrasions on her face, treated and released, arrested on a charge of operating under the influence and taken to the county jail.
Peck said a blood sample from her was taken at the hospital was sent to a state laboratory and results should be back within two weeks.
Buchheit was arraigned Tuesday morning at a Rumford court where a judge set her bail at $1,000 surety. She posted bail that afternoon and was released.
She will appear in Farmington district court on Nov. 13 to enter a plea on the charge.
“It looked like it was a bad accident,” Peck said as he looked over the photographs from the scene. “It was surprising this wasn’t a fatal accident.”
Farmington Fire and Rescue was called to use the Jaws of Life to free occupants, Peck said. They were assisted by Wilton Fire and Rescue.
Both cars were totaled.
Police are unsure how fast each vehicle was traveling at the time, but the speed limit there is 40 miles per hour. It was raining at the time and there was little traffic, Peck said.
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