POLAND — A woman reaching to retrieve her cell phone from the floor of her car on Wednesday accidentally hit the gas pedal, rolled through a rural intersection and hit another car before rolling over into a ditch, according to police.
Melissa Rice, 27, of Poland was stopped at the Dunn Street and Lewiston Junction Road intersection just after 5 p.m. Wednesday, Androscoggin County Patrol Deputy Kevin Nichols said.
When she hit the gas pedal, she sent her maroon Jeep Cherokee into the path of a silver Chevrolet four-door driven by Cynthia Foss, 30, of Mechanic Falls, Nichols said.
He said Rice’s Jeep rolled over, coming to rest upside down in a ditch along the northwestern corner of the intersection.
Foss’ vehicle continued across the same corner, through bushes and a stop sign, before coming to to rest in the middle of a vacant lot, in a clump of bushes about 25 yards in, Nichols said.
Neither driver had a passenger. Nichols said both were taken by ambulance to Central Maine Medical Center with minor injuries. Both were being evaluated by hospital staff as of 7 p.m. Wednesday.
“It could have been a lot worse than it was,” Nichols said.
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