GREENWOOD — A Bethel man suffered head and chest injuries when police said the front brake or wheel locked on the motorcycle he was driving Saturday afternoon on Greenwood Road, police said.
Rodney Burnham, 64, was airlifted from a nearby gravel pit to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston.
By 7 p.m., CMMC was still evaluating Burnham and couldn’t yet provide his condition.
The accident happened shortly before 12:50 p.m. near 649 Greenwood Road just beyond Cole Road.
Maine State Trooper Adam S. Fillebrown said Burnham was driving the 1986 Suzuki Cavalcade LX south when either the front brake or wheel locked, leaving a skidmark for about 100 feet.
Burnham, who wasn’t wearing a helmet, was thrown from the bike, which came to rest on its side in the roadway.
Assisting Oxford County Sheriff’s Deputy Michael Halacy said Burhnam had just purchased the motorcycle a day or two before the accident.
Tri-Town Rescue, PACE Ambulance and Woodstock firefighters responded to set up a landing zone for LifeFlight and redirect traffic after state police closed the road.
Initially, a dispatcher in Paris mistakenly asked Med-Care Ambulance in Mexico and Peru firefighters to respond, apparently believing the 911 caller’s location as Greenwoods Road, which is in Peru and Sumner.
Greenwood Road is in Greenwood and Norway.
An emergency responder quickly radioed back for clarification as to whether the accident was on Greenwoods Road in Peru or Greenwood Road in Greenwood.
After a few moments, the dispatcher canceled Peru and Med-Care and sent Woodstock firefighters, Tri-Town in West Paris and PACE in Norway, saying the accident was in Greenwood.
Area responders nearly always ask for clarification on the location due to frequent confusion over the similarly-named roads that are miles apart.
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- A LifeFlight helicopter rises out of a gravel pit early Saturday afternoon in Greenwood taking injured Rodney Burnham, 64, of Bethel, the driver of this 1986 Suzuki Cavalcade motorcycle, to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston. Burnham told police that the front brake locked on the cycle while he was heading south on Greenwood Road past Twitchell Pond.
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- A LifeFlight helicopter at upper right, rises from a gravel pit early Saturday afternoon in Greenwood, taking injured Rodney Burnham, 64, of Bethel, the driver of this 1986 Suzuki Cavalcade motorcycle, to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston.
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- Maine State Trooper Adam S. Fillebrown bends down to examine the 1986 Suzuki Cavalcade motorcycle after driver Rodney Burnham, 64, of Bethel was airlifted on Saturday afternoon to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston with head and chest injuries. Burnham, who just bought the bike, told police that the front brake locked as he was driving south on Greenwood Road in Greenwood.
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