AUBURN — Several people were hurt Thursday night when cars crashed on Center Street, including one that then plowed across the Burger King parking lot where it crashed into cars in the drive-thru lane before flipping onto its side.

Ambulance crews from several area towns were sent to the scene about 7:30 p.m. for a report of a wreck involving four vehicles and several injuries. Police later said it did not appear that any of the injuries were life-threatening.

When police and rescue crews arrived, they found two cars damaged and a third on its side near the canopy over the Burger King drive-thru window. A Burger King worker said he was just handing a customer food when the car came flying toward the building after skidding across the Mobil Mart parking lot next door.

Witnesses said it appeared that the driver of that car had been heading inbound on Center Street and crashed into a car in the southbound lane before continuing across both parking lots and crashing into Burger King.

Fire crews had to extricate some of the people from the wreckage. Four teens were in the car that flipped.

Chelsi Clavet, of Poland, was sitting in the Burger King drive-thru line, with two cars in front of her, when the crash occurred.

“I heard a noise to my right,” Clavet said. “I looked over and saw a car come jetting across center street over the curb at Mobil, go airborne and land sideways, crashing into the car at the drive thru window and the building. I jumped out of my car, called 911 and ran over. Other people were on the car helping the people inside get out.”

She said the driver of the overturned car, a young man, climbed out of the wreckage. She instructed him to sit down and soon after he did, he passed out. Soon after, other victims emerged from the car, including a teenage boy with a cut hand and a teenage girl with an injury to an arm.

Soon after, a teenage girl climbed out from the passenger seat after having been pinned between the back seat and the door. Clavet said that girl had apparently passed out inside the car momentarily before emerging.

She said the teens were 15, 16, 17 and 18 years old.

Clavet helped the victims at the scene, as did several others, including a doctor, soldier and nurse who stopped to assist.

“I am so glad other people were there to help them get out,” Clavet said. “Glad the employee at the drive-thru window was okay and I hope and pray the driver makes a full recovery —and that everyone else remains okay.”

Clavet said she was relieved that others sitting in the drive-thru line weren’t more seriously hurt.

“The guy that was in front of me was so lucky,” she said. “He had his children with him.”

That family escaped without injury.

In the aftermath of the crash, three of the cars remained in the drive-thru lane at the restaurant. Another came stopped on Center Street in front of Mobil Mart.

Auburn fire crews quickly sent for additional ambulances from several towns, including Poland and Turner. The victims were taken to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, which was advised that patients with trauma were on the way.

Police blocked off a section of Center Street in front of Burger King and Mobile Mart, detouring traffic onto Lake Auburn Avenue. Investigators spoke with witnesses on Center Street and in the Mobil Mart parking lot, where a sizable crowd had formed.

One man said he was at Mobil Mart but never saw the car crash. He heard tires squealing and a thud and when he looked over, the car was flipped at the drive-thru window.

A section of the Burger King building, around the drive-thru lane, appeared to be significantly damaged in the wreck.

No further information was available about the drivers or their conditions.

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