Accident on Friday seriously injured three
By Terry Karkos
Staff Writer

RUMFORD – Conditions for two of three young people seriously injured in a wreck Friday morning on Isthmus Road, were upgraded.

According to a Central Maine Medical Center spokeswoman in Lewiston, driver Sheena Arsenault, 19, of Mexico, was in fair condition Monday afternoon.

Front-seat passenger Jessie Cross, 22, of Mexico, was in good condition, the spokeswoman added. Rear-seat passenger Jesse Merrill, 18, of Dixfield, was no longer a patient at the Lewiston hospital.

The trio was injured Friday at 7:37 a.m. after Arsenault lost control of the red 1991 Chevrolet Blazer she was driving, said investigating officer Mark Cayer.

Cayer said the Blazer was headed west on Isthmus Road when it slipped into the roadway’s soft shoulder.

He said the Blazer crossed the roadway, going off the opposite side into trees, colliding head-on with a large pine tree.

“It appears that contributing factors are speed and alcohol. This accident investigation remains open,” Cayer said.

Arsenault and Cross were trapped in the wreckage due to injuries and the angle of the Blazer, which came to rest on a steep decline, pinned under a log between three trees.

Merrill was able to extricate himself through a shattered window as witnesses stopped to help, said Med-Care director Dean Milligan.

Rumford firefighters and Med-Care ambulance paramedics extricated and treated Arsenault and Cross, whom Milligan said were in critical condition.

Arsenault, he said, suffered a fractured femur and wrist, while Cross had head trauma.

Med-Care transported the three to Rumford Hospital, and later to Central Maine Medical Center.

Police were alerted to the wreck by off-duty Med-Care paramedic Rhonda Chase, who was being driven to work by her husband Peter, a retired Rumford deputy fire chief.

The wreck occurred in a series of S-turns posted for 35 mph between St. John’s Cemetery and Belliveau Road.

“The road was definitely wet, but not icy or frozen. The temperature was well above freezing. They just hit a corner at an unsafe speed,” said supervising officer Lt. Wayne Gallant.

The Blazer sustained an estimated $5,000 in damages.

Officers David Bean and Eric Richard assisted, as did Rumford Highway Department crews who set up barricades, blocking traffic.