A Linneus man was listed in stable condition at Houlton Regional Hospital Friday afternoon with injuries he suffered in a tractor-trailer truck accident early that morning.

Leonard Sabattis, 56, was driving south shortly before 1 a.m. on Interstate 95 en route to Topsham to pick up a load of cement powder when he was forced to swerve his truck to avoid hitting a moose on the highway about a mile north of the Sherman interchange. The truck jackknifed and hit a guardrail before rolling over.

Sabattis suffered some broken ribs as well as some head lacerations, according to the trooper. The Patten ambulance took him to the hospital in Houlton.

Traffic in both travel lanes was blocked for more than three hours, according to Trooper Joshua D’Angelo of the Maine State Police. The breakdown lane was used to pass traffic, he said.

The truck Sabattis was driving, a 1987 Kenworth belonging to Steelstone Industries in Houlton, was demolished. Both fuel tanks on the truck were ruptured and diesel fuel leaked onto the highway and shoulder. The Sherman Fire Department contained the fuel and the Department of Environmental Protection was called to the scene.

D’Angelo did not know Friday afternoon if there was any environmental damage from the spill, but he said some of the gravel along the shoulder of the road had to be removed during the cleanup.

Police in Fort Fairfield are investigating an early-morning burglary at R & J’s Market on Presque Isle Street that netted thieves an undetermined amount of cash.

According to Officer Matt Casavant of the Fort Fairfield Police Department, shortly after 3:30 a.m. Friday, police were notified by a Bangor Daily News deliveryman that the glass in the front door of the store had been broken out.

Police responded and found that the store had been broken into and the cash register had been stolen.

Maine State Police Trooper Carman Lilley was called to the scene with his search dog, Major. The dog was able to pick up a trail that ended about 200 yards away on Brown Street at the Crown Ambulance base.

Police determined that the people involved in the burglary fled in a vehicle from that location.

The cash register was later found destroyed on North Caribou Road in Fort Fairfield.

Driver inattention is being blamed for a Friday morning car accident involving four students at Central Aroostook High School in Mars Hill. The students were on their way to school when the accident occurred at about 10 a.m.

The driver, Jason Chavis, 17, suffered a broken collarbone. Three passengers, Kyle Larabee, 16, Matt Kilcollins, 16, and Kyle Brownlee, 15 suffered mostly cuts and abrasions, according to Maine State Police Trooper Mark Sperry. All four are from Mars Hill.

The students were taken by their parents for medical treatment, Sperry said.

The accident occurred on East Ridge Road in Mars Hill. Sperry said the driver looked down briefly and when he did, the car went off onto the shoulder of the road. The soft gravel pulled the car down an embankment where it struck a utility pole.

Sperry said speed was not a factor in the crash.

– From Staff reports