RUMFORD – A 44-year-old Peru man died in a single-vehicle accident Sunday morning on Route 108.
Ricky Steedley, a passenger in the car, was pronounced dead at the scene after the vehicle hit and severed a utility pole and then hit a house, according to Sgt. Tracey Higley of the Rumford Police Department.
The driver, Robert Brimage, 26, of Lewiston was driving south on Route 108 in Rumford when his 1990 Chrysler New Yorker went off the road at 7:07 a.m., Higley said. Both men had to be extricated from the car by rescue crews from MedCare Ambulance, Rumford Fire Department and Rumford police.
Brimage was flown by helicopter to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston. No information was available on his condition.
A resident of the Rumford house that was hit, Jeff Theriault, was home at time of the accident.
“I was in bed and I heard a hell of bang and I felt the house move,” Theriault, 76, said. “I got up and put on my pants and opened the door and the car was right there at my front door.”
“I asked (the two guys) if they were OK, and neither answered me and I called police,” he said.
Theriault added that the LifeFlight helicopter landed across the street from his house at the ball field.
Route 108 was closed to traffic until 12:30 p.m. Because electrical power in the area was knocked out as a result of the accident, Central Maine Power was called to the scene to erect another utility pole and restore power.
Theriault said the impact cracked the walls in his house and “I can’t close my front door now.”
Higley said the accident is still under investigation. Police are looking for a possible witness to the accident. Police believe there was a female driver in a green Ford in the area at the time who observed the crash. Higley said police need to talk to anyone who might have seen the accident.
State police were called to the scene to reconstruct the accident. The vehicle was declared totaled.
Rumford officer F. David Bean is the lead investigator in the case.
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