OXFORD – Police released information Thursday from an investigation into last month’s head-on crash on Route 26 in Oxford that killed an Auburn man and injured two women.
Oxford Lt. Jon Tibbetts said Thursday that David E. Adams, 60, who was driving a Ford pickup truck, was on the wrong side of the road at the time of the 6 p.m. collision on March 2. His truck collided with a Ford sport utility vehicle operated by Joyce Egge, 50, of Danbury, N.H.
“Mr. Adams was traveling north when he crossed into the southbound lane,” Tibbetts said. “It looks like he attempted to pass and didn’t see the vehicle driven by Mrs. Egge.”
Tibbetts said Egge, a real estate agent, was traveling slow in the 40 mph speed zone on Pigeon Hill looking for property. Her passenger was Faustina Chamberlain, 88, of West Baldwin.
“Mr. Adams either misjudged her speed or he didn’t see her,” Tibbetts said.
He said the driver of the car that Adams was attempting to pass, in a passing zone, was traveling between 40 and 45 mph.
“The collision happened right beside the witness’ vehicle, as soon as (Adams) pulled into the southbound lane,” Tibbetts said. He said he didn’t think that speed or line of sight were factors. “There is a little dip in the roadway there, but it’s a fairly straight stretch,” Tibbetts said. No alcohol or drugs were involved, he added.
“There was no medical condition that we could find,” either, that might have caused the crash, Tibbetts said.
All three were taken to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston the night of the crash.
Adams, an Auburn Charter Commission member and former Auburn city councilor, died on March 3 at the Lewiston hospital. Tibbetts said the medical examiner listed the cause of death as severe blunt force trauma to the lower stomach area.
Air bags in the two vehicles deployed, and all three occupants were wearing seat belts, he added. “We don’t have a lot of accidents there, but when we do have one, it’s usually a bad one. We have a constant problem with speed, so we do a lot of details there,” Tibbetts said.
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