Florida van crash kills 2 Mainers

A van carrying a Maine family ran off a Florida interstate Thursday morning, killing a couple and injuring the other six passengers, police said.

Members of the Dorr family, ranging in age from 7 to 56, had visited Walt Disney World in Orlando and were north of the Tampa-St. Petersburg area when the accident occurred about 7:30 a.m. on Interstate 75.

Everett and Marguerite Dorr, both 56 and from Ellsworth, died when they were ejected from their 1997 Ford van in the single-vehicle accident, according to Lt. Sterling King of the Florida Highway Patrol.

The Dorrs and six other people were northbound in the van on Interstate 75 near the Hernando County town of Brooksville when the van went off the road at 7:30 a.m., King said. A relative said the family was planning to head to Tennessee for a visit to the Grand Ole Opry.

Witnesses told police that Everett Dorr was driving the van in the far left lane and had drifted slightly off the road toward the median just before the accident occurred. Grooves in the paved shoulder of the interstate, known as a rumble strip, may have startled Dorr, causing him to turn the steering wheel sharply to get back onto the road, King said.

The van crossed back over the northbound lanes and rolled several times when it went off the right side of the highway, King said. Besides the Dorrs, one or more of the passengers also was believed to have been ejected, he said. Confusion at the accident scene made it unclear whether some of the survivors had been ejected or had crawled out of the vehicle, he said.

No one in the van was wearing a seat belt when the accident occurred, police said.

Also riding in the van were the Dorrs’ son Everett Dorr Jr., 26, Michelle Tetrault, 25, Lisa Delong, 18, Candi Dorr, 17, Lisa Sutherland, 34, and Terry Sutherland, 7, according to police. Police did not have the hometowns of the passengers, but all were believed to live in Ellsworth or the Ellsworth area. Police also weren’t able to say how the passengers were related.

According to hospital employees in Florida, Lisa Sutherland was treated at Brooksville Regional Hospital in Brooksville, then released; Terry Sutherland was treated at Tampa General Hospital in Tampa, then released; and Everett Dorr Jr. and Candi Dorr were in good condition at Tampa General.

Delong was being transferred in stable condition Thursday afternoon from Brooksville Regional to Tampa General, according to hospital officials.

Tetrault was in critical condition at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa, they said.

Tetrault’s aunt, Ellsworth resident Clara Brochu, said her niece was the only person in the van not related to the deceased couple. She said Tetrault was dating Everett Dorr Jr. and left Ellsworth last Wednesday with the Dorrs on vacation.

“They were nice people, I can tell you that,” Brochu said of the senior Dorrs. Marguerite Dorr worked cleaning offices at night and Everett Dorr was disabled, she said. Everett Dorr sometimes worked at bingo games at the American Legion Post No. 207 in Trenton, she said.

The Dorrs also enjoyed going to flea markets and at one time had their own market, called This & That, in Ellsworth, Brochu said.

Brochu said the group had been to Orlando, where they visited Walt Disney World and Universal Studios. She said they were headed to Tennessee and Kentucky to visit the Opry in Nashville and to visit with the Dorrs’ daughter-in-law.

Speed, alcohol or drugs were not considered to have been factors in the wreck, according to King. In keeping with Florida law, toxicology tests will be performed on the couple.