RUMFORD – An elderly Orono couple were injured, one critically, when their car veered off Route 2 Wednesday, traveled more than 400 feet through woods and slammed into a tree while airborne, police said.
Driver Sally Horan, 73, of Orono, who suffered either a fractured leg or ankle, was carried 60 feet up a snowy embankment to the road by responders, Med-Care Ambulance Director Dean Milligan said. She was taken by Med-Care to Rumford Hospital, then to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston.
Her husband, James, 70, who was in the front passenger seat, suffered multiple trauma and was flown to CMMC, Milligan said.
“He had chest pain, pelvis pain, hip pain, leg pain, he was more critical,” he said.
Investigating Patrolman David Bean said at the scene that he wasn’t yet sure why Sally Horan drove their eastbound 2004 Buick off Route 2 near Teena’s Restaurant at about 1:20 p.m.
“A witness said she kind of veered off the road, then started to go sideways a bit, and then hit the tree. There was no sign of her slowing down at all,” he said.
The car traveled through the snow down an embankment and through the woods, going 415 feet, Bean said.
The car then hit a hard mound of icy dirt and flew a short distance, striking a large pine tree about 5 feet off the ground and bouncing backward. Both front-seat air bags deployed, he said.
“Once she left the road, she just kept right on going. That’s an awful jolt for elderly people or for anybody to take,” Bean said.
Before hitting the tree, the car narrowly missed a clump of three pines and a smaller hardwood tree.
“There was no braking at all, because you can see the tread pattern clearly all the way in the snow,” Bean said.
While medics tended to the Horans, Rumford firefighters, and a Mexico firefighter and Peru firefighter who were driving by and stopped to help, worked to extricate James Horan. Using a Jaws of Life hydraulic tool, Rumford Deputy Chief Scott Holmes cut the roof posts from the car, while Mexico firefighter Ray Carver sawed through the windshield. The roof was then lifted off to get him out.
Route 2 was shut down for about 30 minutes so the helicopter could land to get James Horan.
During the rescue, Med-Care was called to help a person in a diabetic coma and one with an apparent drug overdose. Milligan called Tri-Town Ambulance from West Paris to handle the comatose person, then had the Med-Care crew and a Rumford firefighter head to the other call after James Horan was placed in the helicopter.
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