GILEAD – A Bethel man was injured Friday afternoon when the logging truck he was driving overturned on Route 2, slid and whacked a ledge embankment.

Michael Bennett, 32, suffered a head injury when he lost control of his 1988 International pulp truck while rounding a corner about 4:45 p.m.

He was able to get out of the wreckage and was taken by ambulance to Stephens Memorial Hospital in Norway, Maine State Police Trooper Kyle Tilsley said.

A hospital nursing supervisor said Friday night that Bennett was treated for his injuries and released.

The wreck shut down the highway, forcing Labor Day weekend traffic to be detoured by firefighters around Gilead on the North Road in Bethel.

Logs were strewn over both travel lanes and up on an embankment. The westbound lane had several gouges in the pavement.

Bystanders said one of the logs pinned Bennett’s dog to the road, but the the animal appeared to be OK after it was freed.

Tilsley said he had yet to interview witnesses or Bennett to learn how the rollover occurred.

“It looks like he came around the corner, and I don’t know if the load went over on him, but he was going over before he hit the embankment,” Tilsley said.

Tread marks from one bank of tires on the chassis and metal-gouged pavement indicated that after the rig rolled onto the passenger side, it slid several feet in the westbound lane before the cab whacked the ledge.

That violent collision swung the rear end of the rig across the eastbound lane, blocking the road for about two hours.

Denny Wilson of Bethel retrieved the spilled load, using a cherry picker to lift the logs into a logging truck. He also moved the trailer end of the wreckage, opening up one lane of travel at 6:20 p.m.

A big rig wrecker from Ripley & Fletcher in Paris arrived at 6:30 p.m. and righted the mangled Bennett Lumber rig in 15 minutes.