RANGELEY — Police say drivers in two separate accidents last Friday were taken for frightening rides but were not hurt in the incidents.

The driver of a Blue Flame Gas Co. propane truck, Bryan Halwix, 53, of Freeman Township started up Overlook Hill at about 11 a.m. Friday. He made it part way up the hill on the private road off Route 4, Rangeley officer John Bonnell said.

The road was not sanded, and he didn’t have chains. The truck lost traction and started to slide backwards down the hill. 

He looked at his options, including the potential for sliding back onto Route 4 and being hit by a logging truck, Bonnell said. The driver then maneuvered the truck so that the rear wheel went into a ditch and tipped with the passenger side on the ground, he said. The driver was unhurt but dangled from the seat belt.

The Rangeley Fire Department treated the incident as a hazmat accident until it was confirmed that the propane tanks were not damaged, he said. The truck was pulled back on to its wheels and was able to be driven from the scene.

Later, High Street resident Janice Throp pulled into her driveway at about 12:30 p.m. Friday and lost control of her truck, which went down a steep 60-foot grade and came to rest when it struck a garage in the rear lot of the Red Onion Restaurant, Bonnell said.

Neither Throp nor her passenger, a springer spaniel, were injured but the dog had had enough and bolted the minute the door was opened, he said.

The vehicle was hauled from the scene by Coops Wrecker.

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