DIXFIELD – A sleepy Peru man was slightly injured early Friday morning after crashing his van into a utility pole on Route 2 in Dixfield.
Driver James Young, 59, complained of pain and was treated at the scene by a Med-Care Ambulance medic, investigating Mexico Patrolman Dean Benson said Friday afternoon.
Young’s passenger, Blount Dertha, 31, of Peru, was not injured.
The accident occurred at 3:40 a.m. opposite the Dixfield Post Office on Main Street, when Young was returning home from Bangor, heading west in a 1996 Chevrolet van, Benson said.
The van crossed the centerline, jumped a curb and hit the pole head-on, severing it.
A transformer on the pole exploded and wires fell across the street, Dixfield Assistant Fire Chief Don St. Germain said early Friday afternoon.
Benson said the van also glanced off a parked vehicle after hitting the pole.
Firefighters shutdown Main Street, detouring traffic onto Weld, Mill and Third streets long into the afternoon while utility crews installed a new pole, transformer and street light, and reattached wires.
Benson handled the accident because there were no Dixfield police on duty at that time, he said.
Dixfield Patrolman Jeff Howe, who was scheduled to be on duty, said early Friday afternoon that he had to go in earlier than scheduled Thursday due to a lack of manpower.
“I’ve had five hours of sleep in two days,” Howe said while sitting in the Mexico police station.
He said he worked from 6 a.m. Thursday until 2 a.m. Friday, then went home to sleep. Howe said he didn’t hear the phone ring, that would have alerted him to the accident.
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