By Terry Karkos,Staff Writer

BETHEL – A Lisbon woman was critically injured Friday afternoon when her car was broadsided by a loaded pulp truck, police said.

Beverly Fecteau, 73, suffered a serious head injury and was breathing but unresponsive when Bethel police and Bethel Rescue arrived shortly after the 1:43 p.m. wreck, state Trooper Daniel Hanson said.

Fecteau was taken by ambulance to Bethel Regional Airport and flown by medical helicopter to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston. A nursing supervisor said Friday night that she was in critical condition.

The driver of the 1996 Kenworth pulp truck, George Kenney, 57, of George Kenney Trucking of Colebrook, N.H., was not injured, Hanson said.

Initial indications are that Fecteau drove out of the Rite-Aid parking lot and headed across Route 2, also known as Mayville Road, Hanson said.

“We’re not sure if she was headed straight across or turning eastbound,” he said.

Kenny’s truck rounded an uphill corner and was descending an overpass coming into the intersection when he hit the brakes, leaving an estimated 130-foot-long set of skid marks, Hanson said.

Bethel police Sgt. S.R. White said he and Bethel Patrolman Buddy Richard, and a former Army ranger, Emery Bamford of Hancock, tended to Fecteau until Bethel Rescue medics arrived.

White and Richard told Hanson that Fecteau was not wearing a safety belt. The 1998 Toyota Corolla air bag did go off, though.

“Bamford witnessed the wreck and helped with her medical needs until the ambulance got there,” White said.

Also assisting were Bethel police Chief Alan Carr, Bethel firefighters, who helped direct traffic, State Police Trooper Tim Turner of the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division, and Paris Patrolman Michael Daily, who reconstructed the accident.

Hanson said Fecteau was staying in the Bethel area with family.

The pulp truck sustained an estimated $5,000 damage; the Toyota was demolished.