Route 2 crash leaves 1 dead, 2 injured

HERMON – One woman was killed and several people injured in three late-afternoon motor vehicle accidents that kept police, firefighters, dispatchers and ambulance crews busy.

A woman who was reported to have been seen speeding, passing other motorists and forcing some vehicles off the road for several miles was killed on Route 2 after her car struck two pickup trucks.

She was identified Friday night as 40-year-old Deborah Leighton of Brewer.

Two other people were injured and two dogs inside Leighton’s Saab were killed in the accident that occurred at 4:40 p.m. a half-mile from the Northern Maine Junction Market on Route 2.

Lloyd Lawrence, 70, of Hermon was treated at Eastern Maine Medical Center and released, a hospital nursing supervisors said. The other pickup truck driver, Brandon Townsend, 21, of Glenburn, suffered bruises and other minor injuries that didn’t require that he be taken to the hospital, an investigator said.

Authorities said Leighton was partially ejected from the car.

At the same time authorities were trying to identify the deceased, state police and county deputies were trying to determine what had happened, based on witness statements and what they could see: a crumpled Saab resting against a heavily damaged pickup truck, with debris scattered as far as the eye could see. A few hundred feet north of the two vehicles was another pickup truck, while nearby a third pickup truck was seen in the ditch.

What led up to this swath of destruction apparently began in Carmel a few minutes before the accident, when dispatchers at the Penobscot Regional Communications Center received several cellular phone calls from motorists who were reporting the Saab traveling fast east on Route 2.

As well as driving erratically, Leighton’s Saab is believed to have sideswiped another vehicle near New Boston Road, said Sgt. William Birch, of the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department.

The motorists estimated that the Saab was going 80 mph and was passing other motor vehicles, some at dangerous locations, prompting motorists to drive off into the ditch to avoid being hit, said Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Glenn Ross.

A deputy who was in the area, was sent to investigate and Ross said the deputy was about three minutes behind the errant car when the accident occurred.

The accident is being reconstructed by the Maine State Police, who are reviewing what happened at the accident scene, while other investigators are looking into what prompted the incident. Birch said that speed and alcohol have not been ruled out as factors in the incident.

Based on what witnesses said, Leighton hit the pickup truck driven by Townsend with sufficient speed and force that it drove Townsend’s truck into the air, Ross said. The Saab then slid sideways down the road, missing the second pickup truck that drove off the road, but was broadsided by the pickup truck driven by Lawrence.

The accident occurred during a late Friday afternoon and the start of a long holiday weekend on an already heavily congested road, prompting authorities to reroute traffic.

Bangor and Hermon firefighters blocked off the area immediately, while police redirected much of the traffic, starting at the intersection of Interstate 395 and Hammond Street, where Bangor police and state troopers were limiting what traffic could continue on Route 2.

Deputies were called away from the fatal accident scene about an hour after the crash to handle another accident, this one a two-vehicle accident in Garland where two people were reported injured. Then at 6 p.m., state police were called to Interstate 95 near the Bangor and Hermon line for another accident. Details about both of those accidents weren’t available at press time.

Birch said that investigators are still assessing information about the accident and that anyone with information about the incident can call 947-4585.