AUGUSTA — Police and emergency crews Thursday responded to a noontime pileup on the northbound lane of I-95 in Augusta, where one driver was seriously injured.

Police said the driver of a dump truck, Sherwood Kemp of Leeds, 55, had slowed in traffic because of an unrelated car fire in the breakdown lane.

Behind the truck, a late-model Toyota sedan driven by Katrina Heald-Richards, 54, of Fairfield also slowed, police said. It was struck from behind by a Jeep Cherokee driven by Nichole Pilla, 27, of Oakland.

The impact pushed Heald-Richards’ car into the back of the dump truck and trapped her in the car, police said. Police and fire crews shut down the northbound lanes as the rescue got underway.

Heald-Richards was freed from the car and taken to MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta with serious injuries, Maine Department of Public Safety Spokesman Stephen McCausland said. Kemp and Pilla suffered minor injuries, police said, and did not require hospital treatment.

Maine State Police Trooper Michael Pion is heading an investigation. Northbound traffic on the interstate was backed up for about two hours following the crash, with vehicles using the breakdown lane to get around the site. The accident occurred just north of the Mile 113 exit ramp.


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