DIXFIELD – A young man and woman from the River Valley area escaped serious injury early Wednesday evening after the car they were in flipped off Route 2 and into Newton Brook, emergency officials said at the scene.
After the spectacular crash, Joey L. Worthley, 18, of Mexico, and Erin Farrington, 20, of Andover, managed to crawl out of the totaled 1995 black Pontiac Grand Prix. They climbed up an embankment and onto the road, Patrolman Eric Bernier said.
“They had abrasions and bruising and were taken to Rumford Hospital for evaluation,” Med-Care Ambulance Director Dean Milligan said at the scene, just east of the Common Road.
“At this point, it doesn’t appear that they have any life-threatening injuries, amazingly,” he added.
A hospital spokeswoman later said the pair were treated and released.
According to his preliminary investigation, Bernier said it appeared that Farrington was driving the car west when she failed to round a curve at about 7:10 p.m. about a mile west of Morrison Hill.
There were no braking marks right before the car crossed the centerline and opposite lane, then plowed head-on into guardrail atop a cement box culvert at 1383 Main St., which is Route 2.
Bernier said it looked like the car flipped onto its side and slid several feet along the guardrail before the front end caught in riprap along the brook bank, flipping it over end to end 180 degrees. The mangled Pontiac landed on its side in the brook facing back the way it had traveled.
“I heard this big crash, so I went out to look around to see what happened,” said Hector Girardin. He had been inside his nearby house watching television.
When he saw several feet of guardrail missing, he returned to his house and called 911.
“The girl was making all kinds of noises when I came out, hollering her heart out,” Girardin added.
Bernier said three off-duty responders from Tri-Town and Med-Care ambulances stopped to help at the accident scene.
Dixfield firefighters directed traffic around the scene and placed several absorption pads in the brook to prevent spilled fluids from flowing downstream. Chief Scott Dennett said the Maine Department of Environmental Protection would be notified.
Comments are no longer available on this story