RUMFORD – The Police Department’s new cruiser, which replaces one wrecked last month, is expected to arrive sometime next week, Chief Stacy Carter said Wednesday.

It had already been ordered by Nov. 5 when Rumford Patrolman Peter Casey of Rumford crashed a 2004 Chevrolet Impala into a tree off Route 232 in Woodstock while returning from transporting a prisoner to Oxford County Jail in Paris.

It was the first time in many years that an officer had crashed a cruiser, Carter said. The last happened during a police chase on Howard Pond Road in Hanover, he added.

According to Maine State Trooper Kyle Tilsley’s investigative report, obtained Wednesday by the Sun Journal, the accident happened at 2:20 a.m.

Casey wasn’t injured, but the car, which Carter said was worth $10,000, sustained an estimated $4,000 damage, according to Tilsley. It was covered by insurance.

Tilsley said Wednesday that the accident happened in a tight S-curve where the Maine Department of Transportation had recently graveled the shoulder.

“He got off into it – the cruiser is a front-wheel drive car with no weight in the back – and away he went,” Tilsley said.

According to his accident report, Casey came out of a curve, and the cruiser left the east side of the road on the shoulder. The officer over-corrected to the left and lost control of the car, which slid across both lanes and went off the west side of the road, striking a tree.

Tilsley said Wednesday that speed wasn’t a factor.

“It was a low-speed impact when he went across the road and hit the tree. It wasn’t enough to set off the air bags. It’s not the first time I’ve been there for accidents, and it’s not the first time that that tree’s been hit,” the trooper said.

Casey was not available for comment. No disciplinary action was taken against the officer, said Carter, who has yet to receive a copy of the final accident report.