Milford man hurt in ATV accident > Crash victim airlifted to hospital in Bangor

GREAT POND – A Milford man suffered extensive injuries to his face and legs in an all-terrain vehicle accident Sunday afternoon that required he be airlifted by LifeFlight to Eastern Maine Medical Center.

John Johnson, 51, was still being evaluated at EMMC on Sunday evening, according to a nursing supervisor.

Johnson was with a group of ATV riders in a gravel pit near the Morrison Ponds when the accident occurred at about 3 p.m., according to Bruce Loring of the Maine Warden Service.

The ponds are about four miles south of the Stud Mill Road in Hancock County.

It appears that Johnson was riding up the side of the pit when his ATV rolled over and onto him, Loring said.

One of his fellow riders called the state police by cell phone. Old Town ambulance and the Warden Service responded.

The riders put Johnson on the back of an ATV and then drove him out to the Stud Mill Road, where they met up with rescue personnel at dusk, according to Loring.

“That must’ve been one helluva ride,” Loring said. “He had extensive but not life-threatening injuries.”

One leg appeared broken and his face had experienced “some trauma,” he said.

Loring said that Johnson was “pretty lucky looking at the hardness of the ground this time of year and the remoteness” of the accident.

The ponds are roughly 25 miles from Milford and more than six miles from Amherst on Route 9.