RUMFORD – Besides snarling traffic and keeping road crews busy, the weekend’s snowstorm caused several wrecks.

Two minor wrecks Tuesday occurred during snow removal work.

At 12:50 p.m. on Lowell Street behind the American Legion, a town truck driven by Christopher Haynes, 20, of Rumford, backed into a 1999 Volvo truck registered to Archies, Inc. David Vance, 27, of Rumford was driving the Volvo, which sustained $500.

Officer James Bernard said Haynes failed to see the Volvo. No one was injured and no citations were issued.

At 7:16 a.m. a town bucket loader operated by James Viger, 23, of Rumford, backed into the front of an unoccupied Bethel Express taxi van on Waldo Street, Bernard said.

The 1998 Plymouth Voyager sustained $3,000 damage. The bucket loader was undamaged.

Two hours later, at 9 a.m., a tractor-trailer rig driven by Germana Haral, 39, no address given, slid off Route 2 in front of the old Rumford zoo location. The truck sustained no damage but it took six hours to get the 40,000-pound rig back on the road.

Bernard said Route 2 traffic was never shut down during the lengthy operation. M/T Pockets of Dixfield pulled the truck out of the snow and back onto the road at 3 p.m.

On Monday, emergency crews responded to a Route 2 motorist’s cell phone call reporting a vehicle off the road with a semi-conscious woman inside.

Bernard said the woman, Jami Miranda, 22, of Rumford, was driving a 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee that slid off the road into a snowbank. Med-Care Ambulance transported Miranda to Rumford Hospital.

At 10:03 a.m. Sunday, a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee driven by Erika Micks, 28, of Rumford, slid into a concrete barrier at the Hannaford grocery store on Waldo Street. No damage was listed for the Jeep, which had to be towed, but the barrier sustained $2,500 damage, Bernard said.

On Saturday at 7:45 p.m., a cellphone caller reported that a vehicle had bounced over curbing in the rotary and landed on the roadway-enclosed island.

Bernard said driver Valerie Gurney, 23, of Peru, was not injured but her vehicle sustained $300 damage when she lost steering control due to the slippery road.

Earlier Saturday at 3:45 p.m. a cell phone caller reported a three-vehicle wreck on Route 2 just west of The Madison Inn and Restaurant.

In that incident, Bernard said Amy Aksamit, 25, of Rumford and Jeanine Kneeland, 38, of Andover, were exiting Aksamit’s driveway when her 1995 Pontiac sedan skidded onto Route 2 into the path of a pickup truck.

The Pontiac struck a 1995 Ford F250 pickup, driven by Matthew Thurston, 19, of Rumford, between the driver’s side door and rear door, causing $2,500 damage.

“The force of the impact carried both vehicles 150 feet from the point of impact. At the time of impact, Aksamit lost consciousness,” Bernard said.

She was checked over by Med-Care medics and refused further treatment.

Kneeland’s 1990 Chevrolet Lumina also slid onto Route 2, but stopped just as it struck Aksamit’s Pontiac, doing no damage. The Pontiac sustained $8,000 damage when it hit the pickup. There were no other injuries, Bernard added.

At 1:14 p.m. Saturday, a Plymouth Neon driven by David Defiore, 46, of Augusta, slid into a town sign off Wyman Hill Road upon cresting a hill. His vehicle sustained $1,000 damage. He was uninjured.

Police are still investigating a 12:51 p.m. rollover Saturday at Rumford Corner on Route 232 near its junction with South Rumford Road.

In that incident, a Rumford Corner resident reported finding a 1992 Toyota Corolla sedan on its roof down a 10-foot embankment. No one, however, was inside the car, Bernard said.

Further investigation revealed that the driver, Monica Helms, 17, of Bryant Pond, had contacted her parents after the wreck and they transported her to Rumford Hospital.


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