By Terry Karkos,Staff Writer

MEXICO – Three people were injured in a three-car accident Monday on Route 2 opposite the Big Apple convenience store, police said.

Veronica Dustin, 43, of Dixfield, and Cynthia Johnson, 72, and Albert Johnson, 78, both of Canton, were taken by Med-Care Ambulance to Rumford Hospital, said Mexico Patrolman Jeff Stoddard about the noon accident.

Dustin complained of neck and back pain, and Cynthia Johnson bumped her forehead, but it was not known what her husband’s injury was, he said.

Hospital spokeswoman Jane Bubar said Dustin was treated and released, but she would neither confirm or deny that the Johnsons were there.

Stoddard said the chain-reaction accident occurred when an eastbound 1998 Ford Crown Victoria driven by Philip Brackett, 42, of Mexico stopped to turn left into the convenience store lot. Cynthia Johnson, who was driving a 2002 Jeep Eagle, stopped behind the Bracketts, but Dustin failed to stop, Stoddard said.

Her car, which sustained an estimated $2,000 damage, went underneath the Eagle, causing extensive undercarriage damage to the Jeep, he said.

Damage to the Johnson car was estimated at $2,500. The Brackett car sustained minor damage. Neither Brackett, or his wife, Joyce, 37, were injured.

Rumford firefighters shut down one lane of busy Route 2, also known as River Road, for 45 minutes, and cleaned debris.

Earlier Monday, another rear-end collision on Route 2 in Mexico caused an estimated $3,000 in damage to a 1996 Ford car, and $1,500 damage to a 1994 Toyota pickup.

John Law, 57, the driver of the eastbound truck, had stopped in traffic opposite Dick’s Restaurant on lower Main Street, when it was struck by the Ford, which was driven by Gail Hamel, 60, of Rumford, Stoddard said. Neither was injured.