Bangor driver remains hospitalized after car hits pole, tree on Essex St.

BANGOR – Police believe a combination of foggy road conditions, medication and alcohol led to an accident that left a Bangor woman hospitalized Sunday night.

Anna Gellerson, 23, had been driving south on Essex Street just before midnight Saturday when her vehicle crossed the northbound lane, broke a power pole in half and continued for nearly 40 yards before striking a tree, Bangor police Officer Myron Warner said.

Gellerson’s car, a 1991 Chevy Beretta, struck the pole nearly two feet from the ground and broke out a 12-foot section of the pole shortly after the road veers right, Warner said.

The car continued for another 40 yards before hitting a foot-thick tree in Andrew Field’s yard at 1761 Essex St.

The pole carried a street light and a power transformer. Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. crews arrived shortly after the accident and installed a new pole by 3:30 a.m., Field said. Power was restored around 5 a.m.

Warner said tests later found the woman’s blood alcohol level to be within legal limits. But Warner said alcohol, combined with medication the woman had taken, likely played a role in the accident.

Police would not specify what medication the woman had taken.

While Gellerson was driving within the legal limit for alcohol, she will be charged with driving with a suspended license.

“Her air bag saved her life,” Warner said of Gellerson. “She’s very lucky.”

Field said he was awake when he heard the accident occur near his home.

“There were parts of the suspension [from the car] buried in the lawn, and you could see tire tracks for the right wheels after she hit the pole. And it was probably another 12 feet before the other side came down. Her radiator was a foot and a half from the [vehicle’s] fire wall.”

Gellerson’s car struck the pole on the driver’s side headlight, Field said.

Field went outside with a flashlight and, after looking to make sure no power lines were near the car, checked on the woman in the car, he said.

“When I found her she was sitting real close to the steering wheel with the air bag in her lap and blood on her face,” he said. “I asked if she was OK [and] she said, ‘Yeah.’ … She was very disoriented.”

Gellerson was taken to St. Joseph Hospital in Bangor with head injuries before she was transferred to Eastern Maine Medical Center around 4 a.m. Sunday.

She was in fair condition at EMMC on Sunday night.