Truck, car collide on Route 15 Serious injuries avoided due to driver’s reactions

KENDUSKEAG – Rescuers peeled away the roof of a station wagon Thursday afternoon to extricate a 16-year-old who suffered only minor injuries despite having been in a collision with a tractor-trailer.

The accident on Route 15 could have been much worse, according to an investigator, who credited the quick reactions of the truck’s driver, Wade McCrum, 24, of Mars Hill. McCrum saw the station wagon pull out in front of him and swerved, avoiding T-boning the car and hitting the tail end instead.

The impact sent the station wagon off the road and down an embankment. It came to rest against a wire fence.

As a result, both occupants of the station wagon apparently suffered only minor injuries, mostly complaints of pain, reported Trooper Gerald Pearson. John Saucier, 16, the driver and his passenger, his 9-year-old sister Amber Saucier, were treated at St. Joseph Hospital in Bangor and released. McCrum was not injured.

Pearson said Saucier was turning left onto Route 15 from the Lancaster Brook Road and for some reason didn’t see the oncoming truck headed north and pulled out in front of it.

The accident occurred about 3 p.m. and traffic was reduced to alternating one-lane travel until shortly after 4 p.m., when both lanes were opened.