PERU – A Mexico man caused power outages in five River Valley area towns on Thursday night after the pickup truck he was driving veered off Route 108 and severed a utility pole, state police said.
Jarrod Chessie, 24, was not injured in the mishap, but his 1999 Ford truck was likely totaled, Trooper Corey Smith said by phone late Thursday night.
The accident happened at 5:59 p.m. near the intersection with Main Street in a 35 mph zone.
“He said he had a mechanical problem, but I believe speed was also a factor,” Smith said. “But I don’t expect any charges to be filed.”
Smith said electricity to Canton, Carthage, Dixfield, Mexico and Peru was off for almost four hours while Central Maine Power crews worked to repair the damage.
A CMP spokesman in Augusta said late Thursday night that power in the area was turned off while crews swapped lines onto a new pole.
Dixfield’s annual town meeting on Thursday night was twice disrupted by power failure from the accident – once at 8 p.m. for 12 minutes and the second at about 11 p.m. for 10 minutes.
Based on conversations with CMP linemen, Smith said damage to the power equipment was estimated at at least $4,000.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.