By Kathy McCarty
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — Poor road conditions are being blamed for a chain-reaction accident Saturday that involved a Presque Isle Police Department cruiser and a MDOT plow truck.
Sgt. Mark Barnes, PIPD, was traveling south on the Caribou Road on Saturday, Jan. 5, attempting to get traffic to slow down due to drifting snow and poor road conditions when he met a 2006 Ford pickup just south of the Craig Road intersection. According to the police log, the operator, identified as James Greenwood, 61, of Caribou, lost control of the vehicle traveling north, the truck spun in the roadway and went off the right side of the road, rolled over and came to rest on its roof. The incident took place at approximately 11:20 a.m.
Barnes was able to get Greenwood out of the vehicle and into his cruiser, a Dodge Ram 4×4, only moments before the cruiser was struck by oncoming traffic headed north. The second accident involved four vehicles, including the cruiser and an MDOT snow plow, operated by Jamie Huston, 22, of Limestone, that had stopped to assist with the first accident.
The second incident occurred when an approaching motorist in a car saw the stopped plow truck and slowed down. A second driver was unable to slow down, sending the first vehicle into a spin that caused it to strike both the MDOT truck and the cruiser. The owner/operator of the first vehicle, a 1995 Toyota pickup, was identified as Jean Nadeau, 48, of Caribou. Randall Nash, 22, of Caribou, was identified as the driver of the second vehicle, a 1995 GMC pickup.
Sgt. Whalen reported Nash, unable to slow down, struck the left side back end of the MDOT plow truck, then continued forward and struck Nadeau’s truck. Nadeau’s pickup was pushed into the parked PIPD cruiser pickup, causing damage to the left rear corner. Nash’s truck continued forward and struck the Nadeau pickup again, on the driver’s door.
Hydraulic equipment was used to free Nadeau and his passenger, Eleanor Gagnon, 91. Nadeau was transported by Crown Ambulance to Cary Medical Center for a reported back injury. Gagnon was also transported to the hospital as a precautionary measure, though she was not treated for an injury. Nash was not injured.
Greenwood was transported by Crown to Cary Medical Center in Caribou, complaining of neck pain.
The 1995 Toyota pickup and 1995 GMC pickup were considered a total loss. The 2004 Dodge Ram cruiser sustained minimal damage. The MDOT 2006 Volvo plow truck sustained damage to the calcium dispensing unit. Greenwood’s truck also sustained significant damage.
Trooper Shawn Whalen of the Maine State Police was contacted to investigate the four-vehicle crash. The Presque Isle Fire Department and Sgt. Joey Seeley, PIPD, also responded to assist.
The accident remains under investigation.
