LEWISTON – A Lewiston woman was seriously hurt Friday when her car was struck from behind on the turnpike by a driver witnesses say was traveling at 80 mph or faster.

Maine State Police said Eveline St. Pierre, 64, was taken to St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center with broken bones and other injuries after her car rolled at least once over the highway shoulder.

A pair of passengers in her vehicle, an adult and a child, escaped the wreck without injury.

Trooper Anthony Keim said St. Pierre was headed north at about 3 p.m. when her Honda CRV was struck from behind shortly before the construction zone.

Keim said 40-year-old John Penny, of Leeds, had been driving behind her, also headed north, in a Jeep.

At the start of the construction zone, where traffic barrels are set up and the speed limit is reduced to 50 mph Penny’s Jeep slammed into the back of St. Pierre’s car, causing her to go into a slide.

Trooper Keim said St. Pierre’s car slid across the roadway and over the shoulder where it rolled over, coming to rest on its tires.

Penny’s Jeep, meanwhile, also spun out of control. It struck a guardrail and bounced over the right shoulder before coming to rest, Keim said.

Penny later told police he thought he was driving between 55 and 70 mph. Keim said witnesses estimated his speed at much faster, at least 80 mph.

The crash remained under investigation later Friday afternoon.

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