BETHEL – A rear-end collision early Thursday afternoon on Route 26 destroyed a car and damaged a Jeep.

David Hemingway, 51, of Milton Township was attempting to turn left to go to work at Hancock Lumber when his 1990 Jeep Comanche was rear-ended by Thomas McCormick, 78, of Dresden, driving a 2002 Chrysler, Patrolman T. J. Reese said after the 1:30 p.m. accident.

Hemingway, McCormick and McCormick’s wife escaped injury, but the Chrysler was totaled and the Jeep had an estimated $1,500 to $2,000 in damage, Reese said.

McCormick tried to stop but couldn’t. The impact almost pushed Hemingway into the other lane, just missing a southbound tractor-trailer, Reese said. Had Hemingway had the Jeep’s front wheels turned left like most people do when they’re stopped to turn left, the officer said it would have been a much more serious accident.

As it was, initial 911 calls to dispatchers in Paris pegged the accident as a car/tractor-trailer collision, with possible entrapment.

“It sounded a lot worse than what it was, but no one was hurt,” Reese said.

For about 30 minutes, Bethel firefighters directed traffic around the wreckage, which was hauled away by Gaudreau’s of Bethel.