PARIS – After driving erratically for miles and hitting a parked car in Woodstock, an elderly woman careened off Route 26 in Paris and smashed into trees Tuesday, police said.

A medical condition is suspected as the cause.

Elizabeth Mills, 76, of Walker Mills Road in Bethel, was flown to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston after the 10:30 a.m. crash, according to police.

A hospital representative said Mills was in stable condition late Tuesday night.

Paris police Sgt. Mike Dailey said a motorist followed Mills from Woodstock, after seeing her hit the back of a car parked near the post office. The motorist used a cell phone to call police while following Mills’ 1989 Olds Sierra.

Dailey said he and Officer Ron Cole were on their way to intercept the car when the motorist informed dispatchers that Mills had crashed near the intersection with Old Route 26 in Paris.

“It appears she was drifting in the breakdown lane some 600 feet before she left the road,” Dailey said. Excessive speed does not appear to be a factor.

“There doesn’t seem to be anything other than a medical condition that would lead her to act like she did,” he said.

Dailey said Mills’ license had been suspended, possibly because of an adverse driver’s report.

Mills was not conscious when police arrived, but regained consciousness when medical personnel prepared her for the flight to Lewiston. He said she had a head laceration and other abrasions.

Mills was not wearing a seat belt, Dailey said.

“It appears she was thrown onto the passenger side floorboards when she went airborne,” he said. Most of the damage to the vehicle came from the impact of coming back to the ground, not from hitting the trees, he added. The accident forced the closure of a section of the highway for more than an hour.