RUMFORD – Rumford and Oxford County police were scouring both sides of the Androscoggin River Wednesday night after a driver left the scene of an accident on Route 2 in Rumford.
Rumford Patrolman Douglas Maifeld said that at about 6:48 p.m., the driver of a westbound 1989 Mercury sedan lost control of the car while trying to pass an empty log truck and sport utility vehicle on the right in the breakdown lane near The Madison hotel and restaurant.
“Witnesses said he passed the SUV and tractor-trailer at a high rate of speed,” Maifeld said. “The speed limit is 55 mph there, and they said he was passing them like they were standing still.”
Maifeld said the out-of-control driver got the car out in front of the big rig and narrowly missed being struck.
Tracks and evidence at the scene showed that the car went off the right side onto the gravel shoulder, flattened a mailbox post at 1236 Route 2, and slid sideways across the entire highway.
The car left the road, went over a culvert and through the woods, coming to rest several hundred feet from the road, and in front of a clump of birch trees, with its trunk open.
“By the looks of it, he should be dead. We’re worried about him being hurt. He may have swam across the river to the other side, or he may be laying injured in the brush between the road and river,” Maifeld said.
State police trooper Adam Fillebron was called in with his tracking dog from Hiram to try and find the driver, according to Rumford Sgt. Daniel Garbarini.
Police located a black Labrador retriever, said to have been in the car. It was injured and picked up by Rumford Animal Control Officer Marsha McKenna.
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