JAY – A momentary distraction when a police officer waved to someone while responding to an emergency is the “primary element” that caused a police cruiser to drift off the road, onto a soft shoulder and then crash on Nov. 15, state police concluded in an accident reconstruction report.

Officer Troy Young, 32, was traveling Woodman Hill Road when a report of a motor vehicle accident in another part of town was reported. Young was seriously injured in the crash and broke one of his legs.

Young is doing well and expected back to work in a few months, police Chief Larry White Sr. said Wednesday.

Young “was traveling over the posted speed limit but not excessively over the limit,” White said.

He activated the lights and siren on the cruiser as is the proper procedure to respond to a motor vehicle accident, and was traveling at a speed of 47 miles per hour in a 35 mph speed zone, White said.

The department’s policy, which is followed statewide, allows an officer responding to an emergency complaint to travel up to 20 miles over the posted speed limit taking into consideration road and traffic conditions when applying that policy, White said.

After Maine State Police reviewed evidence from the crash, it was found that Young was traveling between 10 to 15 miles per hour over the posted speed limit before he left the roadway.

Just prior to the crash, Young waved to someone outside a residence located just before the crest of a hill, the report states.

The investigator found that the momentary distraction, in his opinion, was the primary element that caused Young to drift off the road.

“Had he not taken his eyes off the road, I feel he could have made the curve, even at 47 (mph). However, because he was traveling 47 (mph), he was unable to maintain control after being distracted,” Trooper Darren Foster wrote.

According to the report, which White received Tuesday, the weather was clear and the road dry.

Jay had state police investigate the accident, which is the department’s protocol when an accident involves one of its cruisers, to “ensure that we have an independent agency’s conclusion as to the cause factors to the accident,” White said.

When the state reconstructionist arrived on the scene, the report states he observed the cruiser in a ditch, resting on the driver’s side, with the roof crushed against a tree.

The majority of tire marks at the scene were discounted because they were acceleration marks and not related to the crash, the report states.

About 100 feet from the crest of the hill, the reconstructionist stated he observed where Young began to lose control and the right side tires left the roadway and went into the dirt shoulder, leaving a tire mark approximately 100 feet long.

“This was just a standard mark left by a rolling tire, and it did not have the characteristics of a critical speed yaw mark,” the report states.

Young then re-entered the roadway where he overcorrected to the right and left before finally going off into the ditch on the eastbound side of the road. The cruiser then struck a small embankment, which caused it to roll onto the driver’s side, where it came to rest against the tree, the document states.

The total distance from the point where Young first left the road to where the cruiser came to rest was 425 feet.

“Now that I have the accident reconstruction report from state police, the normal procedure in place is a review of department’s policy and establish if our department rules, regulations and policies were violated,” White said.