OTISFIELD – An Otisfield man was charged with assault and driving to endanger Friday after his speeding pickup truck overturned on the narrow, private Canada Hill Shores Road, a county deputy said.
Steven Lamontagne, 21, of 28 South Tamworth Road, said the throttle stuck, and he didn’t want to rear-end a school bus he was following toward Oxford on Route 121 near the Outpost, so he veered right onto the one-lane road lined with homes and cottages, Cpl. Tim Ontengco reported.
“The driver tells a colorful story about how things happened,” the investigator said, but even if the throttle was stuck, the brakes would have slowed the truck down, he added. “He was driving to endanger regardless of his vehicle problems,” he said.
As the truck was speeding down the narrow lane into a curve, it skidded out of control, struck a large oak tree, hit a rock wall, overturned and knocked down a mailbox, according to the corporal.
Neither Lamontagne nor his passenger, 18-year-old Troy S. Murch of Bolsters Mills Road in Harrison, was hurt seriously, the officer said.
After the crash, nearby cottage owner Lawrence Stecce Jr., 45, of North Andover, Mass., spoke to Lamontagne and was struck in the face, Ontengco said. Stecce was bruised but did not require medical help.
Lamontagne was charged with assault, driving to endanger and not wearing a seat belt. He was not charged with speeding because the accident occurred on a private road, Ontengco said.
Lamontagne is scheduled to appear in 11th District Court in Paris on June 27.
His truck was demolished.
The Otisfield Fire Department, Oxford Police Department and PACE ambulance responded to the scene.
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