CANTON — An Andover woman escaped serious injury early Sunday afternoon after falling asleep while driving south on Route 108 and crashing into trees, police said.
Sharon Hutchins, 64, complained of minor pain after Canton firefighters cut the door off her 2007 Subaru Forester to get her out, Oxford County Deputy Cpl. Chancey Libby said Tuesday afternoon.
She was taken by Med-Care Ambulance to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston for a cautionary evaluation, a Med-Care official said Tuesday.
According to the report of investigating Deputy Sheriff George Cayer, the accident happened shortly before 12:31 p.m.
Cayer said Hutchins was near the intersection of River Road when she fell asleep at the wheel. The car crossed into the oncoming lane and left the road, lightly sideswiping a utility support pole, Libby said.
He said the Subaru then followed the tree line off the road before hitting a tree.
“That tree, believe it or not, moved (on impact),” he said. “The impact moved it a foot at the root base.”
Cayer believes that the impact catapulted the Subaru into the air, flipping it end over end, so that when it landed, it was facing the opposite direction, Libby said.
Libby said he believes the safety belt Hutchins was wearing and the air bag that went off saved Hutchins from serious injuries.
He said the driver’s side front end of the car was gone.
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